According to the Mayo clinic, if you get a blistering burn (i.e., partial thickness aka 2nd degree burn) on your hand, you should call 911: Burns: First aid - Mayo Clinic
Is there any basis for thinking such a burn is a medical emergency? What would the ER even do?
I would have thought the concern was about burns that completely encircle digits or the whole hand because they present the threat of cutting off blood flow.
What say you, Dopers? My finger is in your hands. Err… something like that.
There’s this part that qualifies your recap a bit. Hands, (as opposed to fingers), since you can lose mobility and function more easily when the hand itself is badly burned.
“If the second-degree burn is no larger than 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) in diameter, treat it as a minor burn. If the burned area is larger or if the burn is on the hands, feet, face, groin or buttocks, or over a major joint, treat it as a major burn and get medical help immediately.”
Doesn’t that support what I’m saying? They say if the burned area is larger than 3 inches OR if it is on the hands then treat as major, which means call 911 according to their instructions. Seems crazy. Just a typo?
ETA: You think the mean palms not fingers?
That’s how I initially interpreted it, but now I’m feeling less confident in that assumption.
However, look at their description of a 2nd degree burn- not just blisters. Swelling is included (assuming more extensive than for a first degree burn) and severe pain. The hand could get permanent damage from severe swelling. I assume that’s why burns to the hand are onside red more risky.
Blisters I would not call 911 for.
A second degree burn like this would qualify in my opinion.
Might be worth calling your doctor (or, after hours, calling the emergency room) or your insurance’s nurse hotline first.
I was taught that full thickness (“third degree”) burns of the hand or partial thickness (“second degree”)burns that are across a joint should have immediate medical attention (ER) because or the potential for swelling and infection and damage to the tendons or bones causing the body part to contract as it heals. Partial thickness (“second degree”) burns that aren’t across a joint need emergency care if they’re over 15% or more of the estimated body surface area (your palm, sans fingers, is considered 1%). (cite: http://theemtspot.com/2009/02/12/emt-burn-managemment-part-2/)
But the Mayo Clinic is generally a very good resource, so it’s possible that burn care recommendations have been updated since I last looked.
ETA: zoid, I agree…I’d take that one to an ER because it looks like it’s a child’s hand, and because it crosses the thumb joint. Chances are, they’ll just clean and bandage it and send him home, but prophylactic antibiotics wouldn’t shock me, either.
Going to the ER makes good sense. Calling 911 and using an ambulance for a small burn on the hands? I can’t understand doing that. I’d get my wife to drive me to the ER. IMHO
I really would not bother going to the ER. Is there a minor emergency clinic around you could go to?
I work with hot metal a lot and have burned myself quite severely more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve plunged sharp metal deep into my fingers/hands and used ointment, paper towels, and masking tape to hold it all together. I can’t feel two fingers on my right hand, because the nerves were severed. Those I should have gone to the doc for.
So the question is, can you feel your finger? If it has sensation I would simply follow the usual home remedies for burns and keep an eye on any sudden changes in sensation and appearance.
Thanks for the thoughts, all.
The fingers look pretty OK this morning, albeit blistery. I have some sensation (what you would expect for a blistered over digit, I think), and plenty of pain.
I think I’ll try to stop by my primary care doc this week. If nothing else, maybe I can score some prescription burn cream, and she can make sure I won’t have any infection/scarring/nerve problems.
The next question is how to modify my workout routine to avoid using my fingerpads. That’s gonna be tough. I assume this will heal on approximately the same timeline as a severe sunburn?
How did it happen? Inquiring minds want to know… Seriously, if it were a burn from touching a hot iron, that’s different from getting splashed with hot oil, and those are both different from being exposed to open flame.
If it’s a small-area burn, and not too deep (could you see subcutaneous fat or exposed muscle fiber?) and if it isn’t causing agonizing pain, I might wait till the morning and then go to an “urgentcare” clinic…cheaper than the ER.
But (next time) don’t take too many chances. You could permanently lose sensation or functionality.
(“Doc! Will I be able to play the violin tomorrow?”
“Yes, of course.”
“That’s weird: I can’t now!”)
I absent-mindedly picked up and briefly squeezed a hot piece of glass. Small area (couple of fingertips and thumb).
The only symptoms 24-hours out are pretty tame-looking blisters, redness, and mild pain. So I’m pretty sure the only professional medical care in my future is a visit to my primary, at most.
Well, at least it has the advantage of being a chemically inert burn. Better than hot oil or open flame. (Not a lot better, but a little less likely to get infected.)
Question for those who know better: what do you do first? Rinse with water? What kind of disinfectant? A spritz of Bactine, maybe? A dressing? Ointment of some kind?
Rinse under cool (not cold) water for 15 minutes. Running water if you can stand it and it works for the body part in question. But cool water in a sink or a bucket will work to soak it instead.
Wrap it with sterile bandaging of some sort and secure with tape. That’s it. No ointments, no sprays, no alcohol, no hydrogen peroxide, no, for the love of Og, no butter.
If there are blisters, leave them intact as long as possible. Where there is a blister, it’s sterile in there. When the blister pops is when the infection risk really goes up.
Change the dressing once a day or more often if it gets wet or dirty. You can use water or saline to rinse it, but don’t put anything else on it. Seek medical attention if anything looks or smells funky or if the person gets a fever over 101.4.
The internet is brilliant for some things, much better than the old Encyclopedia Britannica we had at home. I burned my hand with vegetable oil, third degree apparently (not much pain, lots of blistering), it was the back of my hand so that made it easier to treat, and followed all the online safety precautions I could. I doubt the local casualty people could’ve done much better as there’s not even a scar left.
For 1st and second degree I always use Neosporin Pain Relief.
I’m not a MD so I can’t say if it’s recommended or not but it dulls the pain and I figure an antibiotic ointment might help prevent infection.
Maybe we can get QtM in here for his opinion.
Just following on from what Why Not said, about 15 years ago I had an accident at home with hot oil. Cooking a tray of chips in hot oil in the oven, I went to take the tray out, moved too quickly and tipped hot oil straight up my forearm from wrist to elbow.
Fuck it hurt.
It was night, I’d had a few drinks and wasn’t legal to drive the car to a hospital so I stuck my arm under the cold tap for a minute, dished up the chips for the kids to eat with dinner, then went back to the sink while they were eating.
Once they finished we walked to the nearest pharmacy. I showed the pharmacist and said I wanted some cream for it. They sold by something (from memory) called Butesin Picrate. which was a purplish ointment. I smeared it with that and put a tube or sock bandage over to protect it.
Within a couple of days the whole area was one big purple scab. I just kept putting on the cream for a week or two, then changed to some other kind and kept wearing the bandage to protect the arm and stop getting cream on everything.
Took about 3 weeks, once the scab lifted off I had all new shiny skin underneath. 15 years on, it’s not even noticeable now.
Yeah, I’ve spend a bit of time in kitchens both for business and pleasure and most of the guys I know would say they’d rather be cut than burned.
Here is a trick for finger tip burns: I was a projectionist back in the days when movies were illuminated by arc lamps. For a long time I was a permanent relief projectionist and worked in a different theatre every night. Every once in a while I would have a brain fart, forget where I was, and grab a hot arc carbon (some of them had copper jackets and got really hot) or hot brass aperture plate without using pliers. :smack: The trick to a fast cure was to immediately grab my earlobe. The ear lobe would act as a heat sink and sometimes what would have surely been an annoying blister was no big deal by the end of the show.
Neosporin must have a heck of a lobbyist. Yes, many sources still say you can use Neosporin or other antiobiotic ointment. They often say it in the line just after where they say you should not put any ointment on the burn/wound. :smack:
MedLine Plus says no ointments.
I would definitely not trust your first site, as the use of “aloe-vera cream or burn ointment,” is just Not Advised these days. Neosporin, honestly, probably isn’t the worst thing ever. If I had a victim who insisted that I put an ointment on it, I’d pick Neosporin, but if the blisters are intact, it’s a big waste of time and ointment. If anything, it’s likely to soften the blister and increase the friction between the blister and the bandage, and make the blister pop sooner, raising infection risk.
You can use an oral NSAID or painkiller, like ibuprofen or acetaminophen, to reduce pain and inflammation.
Wound care recommendations change over time. The latest thinking is that the less done, the better. Keeping an uninfected minor burn/wound clean is the best thing we can do for it. Our bodies take care of the rest.
