Burns are a real risk near campfires, when handling hot stoves, and during intense exposure to the sun. Prompt and proper first aid can help to limit the extent of the injury and control the victim's pain.The 3 types of burns.

1. First degree burn: Involves the outermost layer of skin, the epidermis. Often quite painful. Reddened skin, but no blister formation.
• When a large surface area is involved, as with a severe sunburn, the victim may become quite ill, with fever, weakness, chills, and vomiting.
2. Second degree burn: Involves the epidermis and portions of the next deeper layer of the skin, called the dermis, which contains the sweat glands, hair follicles, and small blood vessels. Usually more painful than a first degree burn. Blisters are present.
3. Third degree burn: Has penetrated the entire thickness of the skin, and may involve muscle, bone, etc. Typically painless because of nerve destruction. Appears dry, hard, leathery, and charred. Occasionally appears waxy and white with small clotted blood vessels visible as purple or maroon lines below the surface.
• Because a third degree burn is usually surrounded by an area of second degree injury, the edges of the wound may be quite painful.

How do I treat burns?

1. Remove the victim from the source of the burn.
• If his clothing is on fire, roll the victim on the ground or smother in a blanket to extinguish the flames.
• If the victim has been burned with chemicals, wash off the harmful agents with gallons of water.>
• If the eyes are involved, irrigate them copiously.
• If clothing remains stuck to the skin and does not fall away with irrigation, do not tear the clothing away. Cut around it.
2. Evaluate the airway.
• Look for evidence of an inhalation injury: burns of the face and mouth, singed nasal hairs, soot in the mouth, swollen tongue, drooling and difficulty in swallowing saliva, muffled voice, coarse or difficult breathing, coughing, and wheezing.
• If it appears that an inhalation injury has occurred, administer oxygen by face mask at a flow rate of 5 to 10 liters per minute and transport the victim to a hospital as quickly as possible.
3. Examine for other injuries. Unless the airway is involved or the victim is horribly burned, the burn injury will not be immediately life threatening. In your eagerness to treat the burn, don't overlook a serious injury such as a broken neck. Control all bleeding and attend to broken bones before applying burn dressings.

Treat the burn:

1. First degree: Treat with cool wet compresses. Oral administration of an anti-inflammatory drug, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, may provide considerable relief.
• If the burn is acquired suddenly (as when a child grabs a hot rock), immediate application of very cold water (not solid ice) may help to limit the extent of the tissue damage.
• Anesthetic sprays that contain benzocaine work for a few hours, but may induce allergic reactions. Use sparingly.
• If no blisters are present, use a moisturizing cream (such as Vaseline Intensive Caret FACE="Symbol">O ) to soothe the skin. Aloe vera gel or lotion may promote resolution of extensive first degree burns.
• Topical corticosteroid creams or ointments are of no benefit in treating a burn wound.
2. Second degree: Irrigate gently with the cleanest water available to remove all loose dirt and skin. Use cool compresses for pain relief. Never apply ice directly to a burn. This may cause more extensive tissue damage.
• After the wound is clean and dry, cover it with a soft bulky dressing made of gauze or cloth bandages, keeping the dressing snug but not tight.
• If antiseptic cream such as silver sulfadiazene (Silvadene) is available, apply it under the dressing. An alternative is mupirocin ointment or cream or bacitracin ointment.
• Put a nonadherent dressing layer directly over the antiseptic (easier to change than coarse gauze):
• Spenco 2^nd SkinO absorbs fluids (so long as it doesn't dry out), which "wicks" serum and secretions away from the wound and promotes wound healing.
• Other occlusive hydrogel-type dressings are NU-GELO or HydrogelO , which can absorb up to 2.5 times its weight in exuded (from the wound) fluids.
• Yet another covering for a burn is a layer of petrolatum-impregnated AquaphorO gauze under a dry (absorbent) gauze dressing.
3. Third degree: Irrigate gently and cover with antiseptic cream/ointment or Spenco 2^nd SkinO and a dry sterile dressing.

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First Aid: First Aid Kit

First Aid: Frostbite

First Aid: Sunburn