Cold burn: first aid and treatment

2024 Author: Curtis Blomfield | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 20:44

A cold burn is considered a serious injury and requires a special approach for treatment. Often there is such a thing as frostbite, when the soft tissues of the body are damaged from strong exposure to cold. Unlike thermal burns, getting frostbite is associated with prolonged exposure to cold, but if you compare thermal burns and frostbite, the degrees of injury have their similarities.

How to get it

Cold burn - this is the damage in which the main factor influencing the body is cold. It is possible to get this kind of burn even if the temperature is not too low, for example, if bare skin comes into contact with a metal object or liquids. Cold burn can be divided into the following types:

1. If it occurs through direct or indirect contact.
2. Local burn, when exactly that part of the body that was in direct contact with the cold suffers.
3. General burn if whole body affected.

Most often, the affected area is the hands. Less likely to suffer from frostbite face orother parts of the body. It should be noted that the injury, which was obtained due to exposure to low temperatures, causes severe pain. A mild degree is not dangerous to human life, but if the burn turned out to be deep, then this leads to the destruction of the limbs.

Symptomatology and types

Before considering the question of what to do with a cold burn, you need to become more familiar with the main symptoms and types. There are two main types:

1. Shallow frostbite. With this type of frostbite, a person may feel an increase in body temperature and even feel chills. Particular attention should be paid to the color of the skin: it can be bright red, and sometimes acquires a bluish tint. The skin becomes blotchy and sometimes swollen. As a rule, all symptoms can disappear on their own after a while, for example, eight hours are enough for it to acquire its usual color, but the affected area will be rough and peel off after two weeks.
2. Deep frostbite. In this case, bubbles form at the site of damage, which are filled with a white or colorless liquid. In no case is it recommended to burst these bubbles, you just need to see a doctor who will prescribe an effective treatment. Deep frostbite occurs sometimes in severe form, but this is possible only in industrial conditions, when a person works with liquid nitrogen.

In any case, you need to know how to properly provide first aid for a cold burn, because sometimes it can save a person's life.

Features of cold injury

Cold injury is a problem that does not occur very often, so the treatment is sometimes non-standard and has a number of its own characteristics. The main feature of such an injury is that many different factors can influence its receipt. Most often, the cause of a burn is a violation of the rules for working with liquid nitrogen, industrial gases, metal or ice. It should be noted that if the burn is severe, then it is unlikely that it will be possible to do without the help of a doctor.

The consequences of injury

How to treat a cold burn, everyone should know, because the consequences can be very diverse. Of course, if the burn was received in a mild degree, then it can go away on its own without traces, but if the form is severe, then here the patient may face serious consequences that only a doctor can prevent:

1. The main danger is that a large area of skin can be damaged, and if not properly treated, the wound can begin to rot.
2. In a sick person, the general condition is significantly disturbed.
3. Sensitivity is lost.



4. Some areas of skin are dying.
5. Gangrene develops.

It's important to remember that these burns are the hardest to bear in young children, so deaths are not uncommon.

How to give first aid

If a person gets a cold burn, emergency measures must be taken as soon as possible. They are as follows:

1. First of all, the victim shouldremove all wet or cold clothing, as well as all things that are in the area of \u200b\u200bdamage. For example, watch, jewelry or any other jewelry that can irritate the skin should not be there.
2. If the defeat is the first degree, then it is allowed to take a warm bath, but the water should be at room temperature, later you can raise it a little to forty degrees.



3. If the injury is serious, then it is necessary to apply a bandage of heat-insulating material. At home, a cotton-gauze pad or woolen cloth is most often used.
4. An injured person can be given warm tea, then the body will start to warm up from the inside.

After providing first aid, you will need to seek medical help.

What not to do with frostbite

It is important to consider that if a person has received a cold burn, then it is necessary not only to provide him with first aid correctly, but also not to aggravate the situation. Consider what will not contribute to recovery, but, on the contrary, will only worsen the patient's condition:

1. In no case should you give the patient alcohol to drink and use it to rub the sore spot. Alcohol is considered a good antiseptic, but in this case, it will only worsen the situation.
2. You can not rub the damaged areas, as there is a risk of damaging the capillaries, they are very thin, and under the influence of cold they become even more brittle, this leads to their destruction.
3. When warming a person, it is not recommended to immediately takehot bath, temperature difference will cause necrosis.
4. Do not rub damaged areas with oils and ointments.

If you follow the rules, you will be able to avoid negative moments.

Therapy

With severe burns, there is a need to properly treat, in this case, qualified medical assistance will be required. As a rule, if a person has received a cold burn, the treatment is as follows:

1. The doctor will first prescribe regenerating drugs that can restore damaged tissue. These drugs include Panthenol, Actovegin and Olazol.
2. The area that received damage must be constantly decontaminated. In this case, the doctor may prescribe a solution of Furacilin or Miramistin.
3. If the skin began to peel off, then the "Rescuer" balm is applied.
4. Often the patient experiences severe pain, in which case the specialist prescribes Nurofen or Paracetamol.



5. If open wounds are formed, antibacterial medicines are actively prescribed.

Surgical intervention is very rarely required for deep burns, but still such cases occur if a person does not perceive such a burn as serious and treatment begins at a later date, when complications have already begun to appear. It should be remembered that the treatmentThermal burns and cold burns are completely different. For this reason, taking the same measures to eliminate symptoms is not worth it. For example, blisters may not appear immediately if a person is burned on a cold surface. A thermal burn is different in that the severity is determined almost from the first minutes of the injury.

Prevention

You may not get injured if you follow these conditions:

1. Minimize contact with cold surfaces.
2. Try to keep warm those parts of the body that are most exposed to cold.
3. Don't stay in the cold for a long time.
4. Do not use ice packs.



5. Work with hazardous substances only in protective clothing.

Remember that the choice of treatment will depend solely on the degree of damage and the characteristics of the organism, but it is best if the negative impact on the body can still be avoided.