Totally unfannish rant

[marnanightingale]

Yes, I do occasionally think about other things.

So someone on my flist just posted (friendslocked, or I'd horrify you all with it) a bunch of folk remedies, variety "for folk you don't like much." (ETA: She wasn't propounding them, you understand, she was ranting about them too. ETA2: Dove loves me. Dove unlocked it. Yay Dove!)


Including this little, err, gem:

Did you know that Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.

*headdesking*

This is a particular bugbear of mine.


Look. I'm only saying this because you are my friends and I love you, so for once I am going to abandon my customary posture of "This is, after all, just my opinion, and there are many possible approaches to this question, many of which have their own charm and validity."

No.

Don't put stuff on fresh burns. Ever. Any Stuff. Please. Until the burned skin is as cool as the skin around it, it needs COLD, not INSULATION.


First degree burn (red skin, pain, no blisters):

Direct application of cold water or indirect application (just above the burn) of an ice pack. Don't put ice right on a burn; your nerves are messed up and you don't need a burn with frostbite.

Run the water so that the stream hits above the burn and runs over it. No sense causing yourself extra pain by putting pressure on a fresh burn.

When you can take the burn out of the cold and it is no longer radiating heat, you can put anything you want on it. Butter or aloe or anything. Whatever's good for irritated skin. (Which toothpaste isn't by the way; it DRIES your skin. OW) Polysporin makes a nice burn ointment with a numbing agent -- don't use it while the burn is still hot --oooh, look! Insulation AND you can't tell how much more damage is happening!

Painkillers and antihistamines by mouth, if it hurts a lot and you can take them without problems.


Sunburn, first degree, extra notes:

Apply cool packs or have a cool bath. Do not apply cold to your whole body; sunburn plus hypothermia is just bad. Once th eheat is out of your skin, do what you like to soothe it. Also, stay really hydrated for the next few days.


Second degree burn: (blisters, rapid swelling, white area on skin)

As above except a) Apply the cold indirectly -- ice or cold water just above the burn, to cool the blood and skin. b) Once it is cool, put a sterile antibiotic ointment on it and cover it loosely; don't use aloe or butter, because they are nonsterile, but tea tree isn't bad if you want to go natural.


Sunburn, second degree, extra notes:

As above, but if at all possible, get to a doctor. Small second degree burns can be treated at home. Large surface ones are trickier, and can scar, which if the burn is on your face, really sucks. Stay VERY hydrated, and take the antihistamines; you need to control the swelling. Try not to be alone the first day. And don't do that again, you just upped your lifetime skin cancer risk like whoa.


Third degree burn: (White and black skin, charring, numbness) and burns with stuff stuck in/on them:

Generously apply the full resources of the nearest walk-in clinic or emergency room. Unless you are in the wildnerness, in which case I hope to hell you or someone in your party bothered to take a good wilderness first aid course.

You can cover it loosely with clean natural fabric to prevent further injury or contamination, but that's IT.


Third degree burn covering an area larger than your two hands:

Hospital. Now. Minutes count.


Electrical burns: Call 911. NOW. Even if you can't see any signs. They have possible internal injuries, and SECONDS count.

Chemical burns: If it's an acidic compound and you're sure of that, you can rinse it with a basic wash. If it's a basic compound and you're sure of that, you can rinse it with an acidic wash. Then go to the doctor or call poison control to make sure they are not also poisoned.

If you don't know, or you aren't sure, or it's a large burn, or there is ANY chance they've swallowed some of it, call 911 or poison control and do exactly what they tell you.

There are several thousand possible sources of chemical burn, and learning on the job is bad.

Oh, and -- (inevitable plug) take a first aid course or two. And CPR.

Comments

[eala-dubh.livejournal.com]

*claps* Brava! Well said!

[pyroclasticgrub.livejournal.com]

I got a first degree burn once when I was working in a hotel in England. Someone hadn't screwed the cap on the caraf and so hot water spilled on my wrist and quickly turned it red and blotchy. I ran it under cold water forever and it got better.
Then, my sometimes idiotic coworker saw the burn and promptly got out the first aid kit and sprayed some random-antiseptic?-spray-of-pain-and-doom on it and I fucking screamed at her and wiped it off.

I still have no idea what it is. My wrist is better now.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Probably that liquid skin shit, which isn't actually dangerous, but it's alcohol based and stings like hell. I see no good in it. If it needs a covering, bandage it.

*makes soothing noises towards your wrist anyway*

Steam burns are THE SUCK

[pyroclasticgrub.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this happened a couple of years ago, but I remember being so mad because my mom (teh wisest nurse in the world) always told me never to put anything on burns, except cold water.

Thanks. I think my boyfriend at the time kissed it to make it feel better. It sort of worked.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Your mom too?

Yeah, I just scream Nurse's Kid; we can always recognise each other, you know?

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

*adds to memories*

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

You were a Girl Guide, weren't you? (One of the ones who ran out of room on her badge scarf?)

;-)

~

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Worse. I was a Scout Leader. :)

[pyroclasticgrub.livejournal.com]

SCOUTS RULE! My dad was a Scout Leader...

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

Why am I not at all surprised?

~

[girlpearl]

ps my mum was a scout leader ;)

[linaelyn.livejournal.com]

OMFG YAY.

Thank you for this post.

May I link my entire friendslist to it, please? Or maybe just copy it and paste the information portion in my journal, publicly?

Because there's a time and a place for allopathic medicine, yes.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, anyone and everyone will please feel free to spread this far and wide!

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

oh god, spreading folk/newage/alternative health remedies like the plague they are is so freaking irresponsible. most of the time that sort of nonsense (as it's designed to do) merely cheats people out of their money, but as with your burn thing it can also cause some very real danger and actually hurt people.

for once I am going to abandon my customary posture of "This is, after all, just my opinion, and there are many possible approaches to this question, many of which have their own charm and validity."

the really unfortunate thing is that so many people fail to do that when dealing with pseudomedicine. i get to hear about some particularly harebrained cases from my doctor-mom, it's painful. there's this too-prevalent notion floating around that laymen can apply the touchy-feely tolerance of the liberal arts to hard science: "My bizarre herbal remedy is just as good as anyone else's!" the other great fallacy-at-large is "if it's natural, it's good for you". have some arsenic or jellyfish stings, you geniuses.

[girlpearl]

"if it's natural, it's good for you". have some arsenic or jellyfish stings, you geniuses.

Wordy mc Word pants. There's nothing I hate more than seeing "100% Natural!" meant to equal "So it could only be good and not possibly harm you!"

Nature has had it in for us since we crawled out of the muck, people. There is more natural shit out there trying to kill you than you can even possibly imagine. OXYGEN is doing you damage right this very minute. Bad damage. The kind that causes cancer.

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Yup, and "Chemical-free". Yeah right.

Well put.

[monkeypuzzle.livejournal.com]

Fantastic information, thank you! *memories* *prints out*

[nonniemous.livejournal.com]

Excellent advice! (Got here via linaelyn) One thing I will say, when you're ready to put something on the burn Arniflora gel is *fantastic* for burns. I've gotten them on my fingers several times in the last year (don't ask; I was being stupid if a different stupid each time) and once things had cooled I put arniflora gel on them. The blisters never bubbled up and they healed very quickly after that with almost no pain. Then again, arniflora gel and pure lanolin are my ointments of choice for just about everything.

[linaelyn.livejournal.com]

Of course, you didn't apply any ointments of any sort until you had fully cooled the burn site, because you are wise and intelligent, both.

Soothing ointments are good at soothing, if it's a substance you are aware does a good job of sooothing you as an individual, and Arnica is an herb with which many people seem to find good results. BUT. Ointments are not for everyone. F'rinstance, lanolin makes Estel break out in hives.

Never try a first application of anything on burned skin. It's far more reactive.

[lurksnomore]

Having just (on New Years Day no less) given my self a bunch of nasty 2nd degree burns on my fingers, I can recommend a really cool product called Second Skin--not the spray kind. It's flat and is 85%-90% water, and the rest is an inert matrix. You wrap it around the blisters (over any antibiotic cream or other product) and put the usual loose bandage over it. It keeps the burns cool and hydrated. Just change it daily. It worked surprisingly well. Mind you, the unblistered parts of my fingers were all wrinkly and prune like, but the blisters and reddened skin bits were happy.

[linaelyn.livejournal.com]

I am very glad you had a good experience with that product. One of the girls in my scout troop was hospitalized last month when her mother put Second Skin (that particular brand, yes) on her, a minor burn on her fingers from making christmas cookies. The lesson here is, "inert" ingredients can be a serious thing in allergic individuals, and testing a new product on burned skin is asking for trouble, if you've ever had so much as a hay fever episode.

Water is safe on minor burns. Other than that? Caveat, um... ointment user?

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

I discovered a lovely allergy to a similar product (Dermaplast) after it was applied to a biopsy site.

***winces in memory***

So: Amen to that!

[iansmomesq.livejournal.com]

Great info! Thanks! I read above you were a scout leader. I worked with Boy Scouts before law school -- sound sound advice thats sounds very familiar!

[girlpearl]

Going to link to this in my post--I'll unlock it, too, if you want to link to it above.

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've done piles of first aid courses too. This was a VERY good summary of what to do (and what not to do) for burns. As good as I've ever read or been presented.

Note that it can take a very long time with cool running water to get a burn to the cool point. It is probably far longer than you expect.

I got a very nasty burn on the pads of several fingers on one hand - picked up a plate from the stove without realizing that the burner had accidentally been turned on under it. I managed to put the plate down without breaking it and dove for the sink. When I got tired of standing at the sink, got a bowl and put a few ice cubes in it. Just enough to keep it cool, not enough to bring it to ice-cold temp. Called the Telehealth line to see if I should get medical attention. Since the burn on was on several fingers, recommendation was yes. So went off to local clinic, with my hand still in cold water (used a plastic pitcher). Kept my hand in it, replacing the water periodically to keep it cold until the doctor was able to check me out. Second degree burns on two fingers, first degree on the other two. Recommended serious pain killers. Kept hand in cold water until bed time (3-4 HOURS after the burn incident). Was painful in the morning, but not nearly as much as I expected, or as much as the doctor had told me to expect, and healed faster than I'd expected. I did lose a layer of skin on both of the fingers that had the 2nd degree burns, but wasn't in nearly as much agony as I had expected when the burn happened.

Yes, I know to be careful to avoid frostbite. I made sure that the water was quite cool to the touch, but never ice-cold.

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

All of which is most heartily seconded by this former union nominee to a hospital's Occupational Safety and Health Committee. (You'd be appalled, out there, if you knew the amount of idiocy those of us who work in health-care institutions are capable of.)

[arabwel.livejournal.com]

*meomorizes*

I am the sort of a safetyhazard who one stuck a hot knife on her own shouldrer, so this is v. v. wonderful :)

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

Brilliant summary: thank you.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the excellent, succinct advice.

[monkey5s.livejournal.com]

Came via linaelyn

When I was 10, we were at a small-time resort in the mountains. I was a real space case at the time, my attention could be captured by ANYTHING, and unfortunately, it was captured by something across the cafeteria when I was lifting a bowl of hot vegetable soup down from where the server had set it for me.

That was the first I had ever, EVER heard of butter on a burn. I protested, because it didn't seem to make sense- if they wanted oil on my burned hand/wrist/forearm, wasn't there enough in the soup itself?

Mom protested, but was more busy trying to find out how to contact the doctor for the little clinic in this podunk place, so the terribly worried, dear sweet cafeteria ladies did succeed in slicking me up. Not surprisingly, that made it hurt worse.

When the doctor was located, and came in to see me, he then had to gently try to remove the stuff on my burn. He said it "probably" didn't make it worse, but he didn't expect it made it feel any better. I told him it HURT A LOT WORSE after their treatment.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

... I bet it was salted butter.

See, the butter trick isn't inherently vile, it's just about 100 years old, when people didn't keep ointments as such around and butter was usually unsalted and often homemade.

Unsalted butter is fine after the heat is out of the burn, if you don't have anything else handy; it stops the skin drying and tightening, which is useful.

Salted butter will hurt like a bastard, even on a cool burn, and, see long rant above :), anything on a fresh burn makes things worse.

Perfectly put

[everildis.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I wish they wrote first aid books that way. People would definitely understand them and might be lead to read them before they're panicking.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Well put.

(reflexively rubs finger that was touching a suddenly hot metal fixture - 40 amp circuit grounding out on the other side of the metal) I guess I did the right thing then. I think I was more freaked out that it wasn't hurting, until the cold water hit it...that stung. The ER was more concerned about the electrical part than the burn, even though I left a smal patch of skin on the fixture. It never did hurt and healed without much of a permanent scar.

Unless you are in the wildnerness, in which case I hope to hell you or someone in your party bothered to take a good wilderness first aid course.

I am sooo guilty. At least I can't lead work trips until I get a WFA cert. Need to schedule a class and personally rank it priority #1.