# Say I wanted to treat a burn that has started to peel... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921 "2012-03-16T02:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/1 "2012-03-16T02:19:20Z")
Let’s just say there is a burn on a piece of skin about the size of a 3x5 card. Say from scalding water, such that the skin did not break or blister, but just turned a purple color. Alright, let’s say after a few days that skin got bumped, and there is a spot about the size of a quarter from which a single layer of skin has peeled, which reveals a patch of moister, pinker-looking skin (in what was) underneath. Let’s say putting a band-aid on it to forget about it until it gets better probably won’t work, since taking the band-aid off would cause further peeling. What would be a good way to treat such a wound if an individual wanted to otherwise go on with their day? ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/2 "2012-03-16T02:38:15Z")
It’ll peel anyway, sooner or later. But you could tape on a big gauze pad if you want. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/3 "2012-03-16T03:37:56Z")
Just don’t take the band aid off. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/4 "2012-03-16T04:18:36Z")
I’m not a fan of band-aids. But you should cover it. If that’s all you got be lucky. ---
**Author:** ![mbetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@mbetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbetter)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/5 "2012-03-16T04:25:54Z")
I just had a similar (smaller but seemingly more severe) scalding. My mom told me to put some kind of ointment on it and cover it with Telfa (or similar non-stick) gauze. I can’t remember the ointment she said I should get, just that they didn’t have any at the store and I ended up using a tube of Neosporin I had. Seemed to work pretty well, though take this is all purely anecdotal as IANA doctor and YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![retterath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@retterath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retterath)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/6 "2012-03-16T04:26:10Z")
Kinda sounds like a staph infection. You know, theoretically. ---
**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/7 "2012-03-16T04:33:36Z")
You should be able to find sterile gauze pads and bandages in the first aid section at any pharmacy or supermarket. Place the pad on the wound and wrap the bandage around the limb to secure it. Make sure it’s tight enough that there is no slack and it stays on (but not too tight). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/8 "2012-03-16T05:38:51Z")
> [@AHarris](#): > > Place the pad on the wound and wrap the bandage around the limb to secure it. Make sure it’s tight enough that there is no slack and it stays on (but not too tight). Or you can tape the gauze pad on. Just be sure that the pad is big enough that the tape is entirely outside the wound, on undamaged skin. ---
**Author:** ![cplif](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/48db29/32.png) [@cplif](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cplif)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/9 "2012-03-16T06:08:02Z")
You must be able to change dressings once a day or so, to check for infection etc. large non compressive sterile gauze is the best bet. It should heal quickly. In burn wards, the only product now applied to burns is based on silver compounds, everything else has been abandoned or banned. Sterile soap, with lukewarm water, and a clean bandage. Anything fishy, change of color, odor, pain, should be immediatly shown to a doctor, burns are fantastic entry ports for infection. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/10 "2012-03-16T13:48:41Z")
All right. Gauze it is. I’ve been putting aloe on it, not knowing that was banned, so I guess I’ll pay the piper for that down the road. It IS healing pretty fast, other than being pretty yucky. Thanks for the input guys. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/11 "2012-03-16T15:05:16Z")
> [@retterath](#): > > Kinda sounds like a staph infection. You know, theoretically. 😕 Confused, what part of that sounded like an infection? Or did you mean one waiting to happen? I second neosporin and gauze. Use a big enough pad that you can tape it down outside the injured area. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/12 "2012-03-16T16:31:06Z")
They have these awesome gel bandages now for burns - I’ve also used them for a really bad scrape and can’t recommend them highly enough. If you use one, put gauze over it, though, because you don’t want the edges to dry out. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/13 "2012-03-16T18:01:30Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > All right. Gauze it is. I’ve been putting aloe on it, not knowing that was banned, so I guess I’ll pay the piper for that down the road. > > It IS healing pretty fast, other than being pretty yucky. Thanks for the input guys. Aloe hasn’t been “banned”, it just isn’t as effective for burns as popularly thought: > [@](#): > > [The Claim: Aloe Vera Gel Can Heal Burns](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/health/09real.html) > > In 2007, for example, a study in the journal Burns analyzed data from four controlled clinical trials involving a total of 371 patients, some were treated with topical aloe vera and others with placebo. Patients in the aloe vera group appeared to have slightly shorter healing times, but the evidence was not convincing, and the authors recommended further research. > > In another study, scientists applied aloe vera to second-degree burns and compared it with other treatments. They found that it “hindered the healing process” when compared with a common antibacterial cream. Then in 2008, still another study looked at aloe vera applied to burns for six weeks and found that it decreased “subdermal temperature within the skin,” but did not reduce bacterial counts or speed the regeneration of skin. Now, whether it makes burns stop hurting faster (which I have always heard it as) is another matter. That said, when I get burned (usually from a soldering iron, which can literally burn the skin, not just heat damage, but in a small area), I just cool it down as fast as I can and leave it alone if the skin is unbroken; usually by the time the scab comes off it has healed enough (no raw-looking skin underneath). Obviously, larger burns pose more of a problem with respect to skin prematurely peeling off (luckily I haven’t ever had a burn over more than half a square inch or so, even a sunburn). I have also popped blisters before, which you aren’t supposed to do (but left the skin intact otherwise). And if it itches, don’t scratch it (I did this once without thinking with a burn I got from a big drop of solder on my leg, about 2-3 weeks after I got burned, and it started bleeding when the scab came off; surprisingly, I don’t even have a scar there now from what was likely a third degree burn, taking maybe a couple months to heal in total for something less than half an inch across, and much longer before it resembled normal skin). ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/14 "2012-03-16T22:50:35Z")
what is sterile soap and where would you get it? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-i-wanted-to-treat-a-burn-that-has-started-to-peel/615921/15 "2012-03-16T23:27:13Z")
Since this is a medical question about a real life situation, let’s move from GQ to IMHO. **samclem** , MOderator