Treating Burns

[SoulKiss]

See if this was www.nhsdirect.org I would expect this kind of question.

If you were enquiring how to the the skin you seared onto your can that would make sense to be here.

To ask this question then ignore the best advice give - get down to A&E - is just pointless..............

Darren it`s a first degree burn.... and unless infected not necessary to attend A and E.

Don`t put gauze on it as gauze sheds fibres. Go to your chemist and buy some mepore dressings... these are adhesive dressings but they have a non adhesive pad in the centre, alternatively buy some melolin dressings and secure it with a small bandage. Don`t be changing the dressing twice a day as the more times you remove the dressing the more chance there is of it becoming infected. Don`t change the dressing until a) it becomes wet with fluid leaking out of burn or b) the dressing falls off. If possible leave the dressing on for at least 3 days.

As I said previously if you suspect its become infected then pop along to the GP for some anti biotics.

Just out of interest, do the people who've recommended A&E on here do so because that's the safest bet from a non-medical point of view or do they genuinely feel A&E is the only solution?

I've had numerous little scrapes and burns but I wouldn't dream of wasting time at A&E for something so minor unless I was in a great deal of pain and it stopped me from doing the usual things. I hate sitting in the waiting room thinking I'm taking up space for people more in need of urgent medical attention when I could have quite happily stayed at home and left it a couple of days. The last time I went it was about that "thing" in my eye, I instinctively wanted to leave it a couple of days to see if anything progressed and it did clear up, the doctors at A&E said to leave it too! I always feel daft then. But better to be safe than sorry I guess, I suppose I'm just reluctant to be prodded and poked by strangers...

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

Just out of interest, do the people who've recommended A&E on here do so because that's the safest bet from a non-medical point of view or do they genuinely feel A&E is the only solution?

I've had numerous little scrapes and burns but I wouldn't dream of wasting time at A&E for something so minor unless I was in a great deal of pain and it stopped me from doing the usual things. I hate sitting in the waiting room thinking I'm taking up space for people more in need of urgent medical attention when I could have quite happily stayed at home and left it a couple of days. The last time I went it was about that "thing" in my eye, I instinctively wanted to leave it a couple of days to see if anything progressed and it did clear up, the doctors at A&E said to leave it too! I always feel daft then. But better to be safe than sorry I guess, I suppose I'm just reluctant to be prodded and poked by strangers...

Its the easiest way to get the right answer to the question.

He doesn't have the knowledge to know what to do, and the Internet is not really suitable for diagnosis for those who are not medically trained.

So while I know a fair bit of First Aid, I cannot accurately asses the condition.

We all know that GP's require a weeks notice to get an appointment, whereas A&E may require an hour or so's wait to be seen, you will get expert advice.

Case in point, when I dropped the SV a year past October, my diagnosis of the damage to my left little finger was that I had banged it up a bit and it would be fine due to being able to move it, no real horrible pin, upshot was on proper investigation, it was broken.

If others with better training on here are willing to say the A&E route is OTT, thats fine by me, but personally I dont see the point in taking a risk with my health over the decision whether to travel 15 mins to A&E or not.

have you got a local walk in centre? if you have, go there, that way people with more serious injuries wont get held up at A+E.

Originally Posted by Baph

No worries about throwing opinions back, I'm getting used to it.

Hahaha

Get yourself booked in for surgery, it may need amputating. Its a first degree burn mate, cold water and live it out. I air them if possible, or you can dress them.

So you lot who recommend A&E were the buggers that were holding me up on Friday night for 3 hours for a doctor to tell me to go to x-ray, find out nothings broken and send me home!

EDIT: A burn from a soldering iron, is to me never gonna require A&E unless you leave it on there for a long time and you are doing any damage other than skin.

[DarrenSV650S]

Went to the pharmacy and got "Jelonet" dressings which have jelly in them that help the wound

A and E are now starting to refuse to treat people with what they perceive as minor injuries. They will triage and then tell you go to see your GP or to go to a walk in treatment centre.

Darren don`t use the jelonet for more than a couple of days.... it`ll keep the wound too moist and it won`t dry out with a permanent layer of jelly over it.

Jelonet has no medicinal qualities whatsoever in it, the jelly won`t help the wound at all, it`ll just keep it moist.

I agree with soulkiss in that the internet is not always the best place to seek a diagnosis or advice. People post on here asking for medical advice and quite often the advice given is wrong. I`m not disagreeing with some of the advice given here just to be troublesome, it`s just that people who aren`t medically trained whilst meaning well might be giving the wrong info. Obviously in this case it wouldn`t be too detrimental but I have seen advice given on this forum that could have been quite harmful to the person concerned and I felt the need to PM and put things straight.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

Darren it`s a first degree burn.... and unless infected not necessary to attend A and E.

Don`t put gauze on it as gauze sheds fibres. Go to your chemist and buy some mepore dressings... these are adhesive dressings but they have a non adhesive pad in the centre, alternatively buy some melolin dressings and secure it with a small bandage. Don`t be changing the dressing twice a day as the more times you remove the dressing the more chance there is of it becoming infected. Don`t change the dressing until a) it becomes wet with fluid leaking out of burn or b) the dressing falls off. If possible leave the dressing on for at least 3 days.

As I said previously if you suspect its become infected then pop along to the GP for some anti biotics.

Fair points and I stand corrected. As I said previously, I was given that information years ago by my aunt is a nurse on a specialist burns unit. The advice to change the dressing twice a day for a few days was to take away any infection that was currently present and replace with a clean, sterile dressing. I thought gauze was what she advised because one side of it doesn't stick, but hete you go......I'm no nurse!

Good advice Speedy and good job you looked at this thread!

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

Fair points and I stand corrected. As I said previously, I was given that information years ago by my aunt is a nurse on a specialist burns unit. The advice to change the dressing twice a day for a few days was to take away any infection that was currently present and replace with a clean, sterile dressing. I thought gauze was what she advised because one side of it doesn't stick, but hete you go......I'm no nurse!

Good advice Speedy and good job you looked at this thread!

Hey no worries... everyone who replies means well. Your aunts advice probably was correct years ago but like everything else ideas and treatments change over the years (tis sometimes a royal pain in the **** keeping up with it all!!)

By gauze I think you`re meaning something like melolin that doesn`t stick and that would be ideal for a burn.