# What does a fresh scald look like?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341 "2007-11-14T04:29:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Anduinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Anduinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduinel)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341/1 "2007-11-14T04:29:57Z")

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I’m working on a story for a writing workshop. There’s a kid in it, about seven years old, who falls into a tub of too-hot water and receives some pretty nasty scalds. I realized while writing that I have no idea what a really bad scald looks like. Google turns up lots of images, but most are infections and scars, and I’m looking for something in the range of 45 minutes to an hour after the injury occurs. I imagine there’s redness, but anything else?

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**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341/2 "2007-11-14T17:00:40Z")

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That’s about it, IME. I got myself pretty good with some boiling water (on the stomach-ouch!) last year, and the immediate aftermath was a bright-red patch of skin. It doesn’t look anything like a regular burn … although it can be just as serious, as I discovered.

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**Author:** ![Malachi\_Throne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Malachi\_Throne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malachi_Throne)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341/3 "2007-11-14T18:22:46Z")

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Yes, an ordinary burn, like where your hand touches a hot pot on the stove, or the oven rack. Red at first with vague outlines, then brick red with sharp outlines, then white as a blister forms. I think the first step takes an hour and the second a few hours.

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**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341/4 "2007-11-14T20:00:15Z")

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[QUOTE=Malachi Throne]  
Red at first with vague outlines, then brick red with sharp outlines, then white as a blister forms.  
[/QUOTE]

Oh, yeah, that was a bit distinctive. Typical burns seem to fade at the edges into the surrounding unburnt skin; the scald mark was very sharply defined. It looked almost like a high-quality tatoo, if anyone would ever get a high-quality tatoo of a round patch of red.

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**Author:** ![Anduinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Anduinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduinel)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-fresh-scald-look-like/426341/5 "2007-11-14T21:42:45Z")

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Much obliged.