Violation of the integrity of the tissues of the human body in a certain place due to exposure to high temperatures is called a thermal burn. Contact occurs with heated substances, which can be in a solid, liquid or gaseous state. When receiving injuries of a high severity, the provision of timely assistance plays an important role.
Features and classification
Not only children, but also adults can get a thermal burn. Much depends on compliance with safety rules when working with heated surfaces and substances at work and at home. Most often, it is women who suffer such injuries, since they are most often involved in cooking.
Injuries can vary in severity. The duration of treatment and the possibility of developing any complications will depend on this.
- Thermal burn of the 1st degree does not pose a particular danger to the body. Approximately on the third day, the affected epidermis dies, and in this placea he althy layer of skin appears.
- 2nd degree thermal burn affects the dermis to some extent. In this regard, the recovery process may take about two weeks. The blood flow in this case is not disturbed. After healing, sensation usually returns completely. As for pustular wounds, they are formed quite rarely.
- 3rd degree thermal burn spreads over large areas. With such injuries, tissue necrosis occurs, many blisters appear. In some cases, a scab appears, after which suppuration is observed. The resulting damage with competent therapy is granulated and scarred. He althy tissue grows along the edges of the wound.
- The 4th degree thermal burn is life threatening. A black scab appears, accompanied by charring of the damaged areas. Necrosis may develop.
Main reasons
Such injuries occur most often as a result of accidents or careless handling of aggressive or heated substances, objects or mechanisms.
- Approximately 85 percent of thermal damage is caused by an open flame.
- About 7 percent of these injuries are caused by exposure to liquid or gaseous substances.
- Approximately 6 percent of burns were caused by electric current.
Determining severity by symptoms
If slight damage is received, then on the surface of the skin appearredness. Moderate pain is sure to accompany. A slight swelling may occur. In the last stages of healing, increased peeling of the skin is noted.
When you receive an injury of the second degree of severity, you can notice small blisters on the skin with a yellowish liquid inside. There are usually no other visible changes. After healing, scars may remain. The pain syndrome in the initial stages is pronounced.
For the third degree of thermal burns is characterized by the spread of necrosis. It can be dry or wet. The affected tissue acquires a yellowish tint, many blisters appear. After healing, rather extensive scars are formed. If the lesion is small, then complete overgrowth of the epithelium often occurs.
In the last degree of thermal burns, necrosis is more pronounced. It penetrates directly into the depth of tissues. Bones, muscle structures and tendons are damaged. The site of injury may be brown or black.
Diagnosis to determine the degree of damage
The burn itself has bright manifestations, so it is not difficult to diagnose it. However, it is necessary to understand what degree of severity is characteristic of it. This allows you to prescribe competent treatment.
The depth of the lesion is determined by the scab, in which thrombosed vessels are visible. Infrared thermography is of particular benefit in diagnosing. When conducting research, the deepest places have a specific color. It is possible to accurately determine the depth of thermal injury only 7 days afterreceipt.
Be sure to measure the area of the damaged area, as this is important for subsequent therapy.
First aid for thermal burns
First, the effect of the irritating factor must be eliminated. With a mild injury, which is accompanied by slight redness, it is enough to cool the damaged area under cold water. After that, you can apply a special preparation "Olazol". It helps with burns. In the presence of blisters, erosions and other damage, you should immediately contact a specialist.
If the damage is caused by prolonged exposure to sunlight, then in most cases you can do without doctors. First aid for this type of thermal burns is to regularly wash the problem area with cold water and use specialized ointments.
When getting a serious thermal injury, the main thing is not to harm until the ambulance arrives.
- It is forbidden to inject any funds, lubricate damaged areas with ointments and aerosols.
- Do not treat the injury site with colognes and other solutions containing alcohol.
- Ice on wounds is also not allowed to apply to avoid necrosis of the skin.
- Don't touch affected areas or pop blisters yourself.
- When treating a thermal burn, there is no need to apply any bandages. They impair circulation.
Features of traditional treatment
At the initial stage, in the presence of serious injuries, certain drugs are always used. In primary care, they try to prevent the development of shock. To do this, the patient is injected with an anesthetic, after which a sterile bandage is applied.
Usually, when you get a thermal injury, they give an injection against tetanus. Subsequent treatment depends on the nature and extent of the damage. Small burns are treated with regular disinfection. At the very beginning, drugs may be prescribed to improve healing.
When a thermal burn of the skin of the third degree often occurs tissue necrosis. In many cases, suppuration appears, so the main task is to eliminate the infection. Bandages should be changed as often as possible. Antiseptic compounds are applied to them.
During the treatment, the ointments indicated in the table are used.
| Levomekol | It is a drug that has an anti-inflammatory effect and an antimicrobial effect. Easily penetrates tissues without damaging biological membranes. |
| Olazol | Has an analgesic effect, as it contains anestezin. Slows down the reproduction of microorganisms due to a violation of protein synthesis. Accelerates the process of epithelium recovery. |
| Levosin | Is a combined remedy that providesanti-inflammatory and analgesic action. Gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms are sensitive to the drug. |
Together with ointments, antihistamines and other drugs can be prescribed that can improve blood circulation, normalize the functioning of the heart and other organs. It all depends on the severity of the injury.
Surgery
In case of thermal burns of the first or second degree, medical treatment is carried out. However, in other cases, surgery may be required. It is resorted to in extreme situations when there are extensive injuries with deep wounds.
If the lesion is penetrating, excision of parts with necrotic tissue may be a rational solution. After the areas are removed, sutures are usually applied. Combined plastic surgery may be an alternative option. It is done if it is impossible to connect the edges of an existing wound.
Excision is not performed immediately. Early surgery may be necessary for osteonecrosis when there is a risk of blood flow disruption directly to the deep tissues. The optimal period is considered to be within 4-10 days after the damage is received. It is during this time that the patient's condition improves, and the injury acquires distinct boundaries.
Plasty helps prevent further tissue infection and improve the healing process. It is usually done once. However, it may be necessarymulti-stage intervention if the patient is very weak or the damage is too large.
Physiotherapy application
In case of thermal and chemical burns, special procedures are prescribed to speed up recovery processes, prevent the possible appearance of purulent wounds, and improve blood circulation.
- Ultraviolet irradiation promotes tissue regeneration, relieves inflammation and has a stimulating effect on local immunity.
- Ultrasound therapy leads to the resorption of scars and the normalization of blood flow. It also has an analgesic effect.
- UHF is done to relieve inflammation. Another procedure improves blood circulation.
- Magnetotherapy is a biostimulating event that allows you to increase the speed of metabolic processes.
- Cryotherapy is carried out at the first stage. Timely cooling of the damaged area avoids numerous complications.
Conducting infusion-transfusion therapy
The technique is intended to replenish the fluid lost as a result of damage. Special solutions are introduced into the body. With timely use, the effectiveness of surgical intervention increases to a large extent.
Intensive care is prescribed if 10 percent of the dermis was affected during an injury. The program of future infusions is determined by the attending physician. Most often, it is necessary to restore the volume of erythrocytes andelectrolytes. Together with glucose, vitamins C and B are introduced into the body to replenish the water balance. The selection of solutions largely depends on the nature of the damage.
Folk recipes for the treatment of minor injuries
The simplest first-degree thermal burn treatment involves the use of toothpaste containing menthol. It allows you to reduce pain, protect against bacteria and relieve swelling. A thin layer of paste does not allow moisture to evaporate from the fiber, so the skin will not dry out too much.
Helps in the treatment of aloe thermal damage. It is necessary to cut the leaf of the flower, then rinse it under the tap. A slightly dried blank is cut lengthwise into two halves and applied to the burned area. A bandage is used for fixation. If necessary, the sheet can be crushed until a uniform mass is obtained.
For minor burns, liquid black or green tea is used. With this simple remedy, you need to soak the bandage and wrap the damaged area. The tannins present in the drink can normalize blood circulation and improve healing abilities.
You can soothe pain and relieve swelling with potatoes. It should be cut and applied to the site of injury. For the same purpose, a cabbage leaf is often used instead.
Possible complications after injury
Immediately after receiving thermal damage, certain deterioration problems may occur:
- Sepsis, which is an infectionorganism with pathogenic microbes, is possible in the presence of deep burns covering the human body by about 20 percent. Destructive processes occurring in tissues lead to it. The immune system is weakened by numerous necrosis.
- Pneumonia occurs with numerous and deep tissue lesions. It is more often bilateral. Occurs in many patients after receiving deep and extensive wounds.
- Burn exhaustion implies the absence of the effect of ongoing therapeutic measures for two months. If the degree of healing during this period is insignificant, then we can talk about this complication. Usually there are dystrophic changes in many systems of the human body. Immunity is greatly weakened, metabolic processes are disturbed.
- Toxic hepatitis negatively affects the patient's condition. It poses a serious danger to the future life of the patient. The disease develops due to the ingestion of a large number of chemicals in the form of drugs.
- Vascular thrombosis is another unpleasant complication. It is manifested by pain in the affected limb. The outflow of blood is significantly worsened, metabolic processes are disrupted.
After a severe burn for a long time, disturbances in the activity of the main organs can be observed. Some processes become chronic. The more damage caused by an injury, the higher the likelihood of certain complications. Howeverwith proper treatment, they can be avoided.
ICD code: thermal burn
As a statistical basis, a special document was created - the International Classification of Diseases. It is periodically reviewed by WHO management. It also includes a thermal burn. In ICD-10, it is represented by classes T20-T32. This includes damage caused by electric heaters, friction, flames, lightning, radiation, incandescent objects, hot air, and other means. Sunburn was excluded from the classification.
The International Classification of Diseases consists of three volumes. The first of them includes the basic structure, the second - instructions for use, the third - an alphabetical index. The documentation is divided into 22 classes. They are designated by letters, each of which corresponds to a certain category, and by numbers.
Medical Prognosis
Timely assistance with thermal burns makes it possible to avoid all sorts of complications. However, in some cases, the consequences of damage are very serious. There are failures in the functioning of important organs. Light burns heal fairly quickly. The further prognosis is influenced not only by the degree of injury, but also by the quality of the treatment provided.
The age of the victim is of no small importance. The prognosis for older people will be less pleasant, as the healing processes in the body are no longer functioning as efficiently. A threat to life is burns of 2 and 3 degrees of severity if two-thirds of the body surface has been thermally affected. Situations in which the perineum, face and body suffer are considered critical.
It should be clearly understood that with prolonged heat exposure to the skin, overheating of the cells occurs, as a result of which they die. Protein denaturation occurs, metabolism is disturbed. After the source of thermal exposure is eliminated, hyperthermia inside the tissues does not stop, but continues.
As a conclusion
In modern medical centers, thermal injuries are handled by a combustiologist. His competence usually includes deep and extensive burns. Superficial injuries are successfully treated by other specialists.
It is necessary to seek medical help in the following situations:
- a child or a person suffering from various chronic diseases was injured;
- the injury has a second degree of severity with a lesion of a fairly large area;
- pain does not disappear for a long time;
- experience additional symptoms of dizziness, nausea, weakness, and irregular heartbeat.
It is best to visit a doctor even with a slight burn in order to apply the most effective remedies. In this case, it will be possible to quickly get rid of pain and avoid skin defects.
