Raising a child is not easy. Especially when the mother is also responsible for household chores. Children, on the other hand, have an interesting property - as soon as mom turns away, they immediately find adventure. Alas, not all adventures end well and are fraught with consequences. A child's burn ranks third in childhood injuries. Before them are only injuries from falling from a height and various asphyxiation. It's about burns.
Raising a child is not easy. Before them are only injuries from falling from a height and various asphyxiation. We are talking about burns.
What are burns?
Burns are tissue damage caused by local exposure to high temperatures, chemicals, ionizing radiation, or electric current.
Burns are divided into several categories:
- Thermal. These are burns by fire, steam, boiling liquids, burns after contact with hot objects.
- Chemical. Burns from exposure to household chemicals.
- Beam. This is a sunburn.
- Electrical. They arise under the influence of current, lightning.
Burns are distinguished by the degree of tissue damage:
- 1 degree. Only the skin is affected. It is characterized by the first degree of redness of the skin, slight edema, fever at the site of the burn, itching, burning. Healing occurs on its own in 7 - 10 days, no treatment is required, no scars remain.
- 2nd degree. It is characterized by edema, redness, the appearance of blisters with transparent contents, and severe pain. With the right approach to treatment, it heals by 14 - 21 days, leaves no scars. With improper treatment (especially for chemical burns), the process can deepen.
- 3 degree. It is characterized by edema, the appearance of blisters with bloody contents, sensitivity is reduced or absent. Such burns are treated in the hospital. The wound heals with the formation of scars and scars.
- 4 degree. It is characterized by damage to the skin, subcutaneous fat, muscles. The wound is deep, black, not sensitive to pain. As with third-degree burns, treatment is carried out in a hospital. After recovery, scars remain.
Not only the depth is important, but also the area of the burn. The easiest way to evaluate is by the palm of the baby. The area equal to the palm is equal to one percent of the entire body area. The larger the area, the worse the forecast.
Features of burns in children
- children have thinner skin than adults. Therefore, children's burns are deeper;
- the child is helpless at the moment of injury, does not immediately react, is unable to help himself. Because of this, the exposure to the traumatic agent can be longer, which deepens the trauma;
- burn shock in children can occur with a smaller burn surface than in adults.
Considering all of the above, with a burn, starting from the second degree (especially with a large area of injury), you need to show the child to a doctor.
What to do before you see a doctor, and how first aid is provided for burns, we will now discuss with you.
Chemical burn in a child
Children get chemical burns quite often. The reason is poorly cleaned household chemicals or nearby acetic acid. Unfortunately, children not only drench themselves, but also drink liquid from beautiful packages.
What can cause a burn?
- acids (sanox, adrilan, acetic acid);
- alkalis (cleaning agents, ammonia);
- petrol;
- potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate);
- creams, ointments, some medications used by adults (fortunately, such burns are shallow).
The severity of a chemical burn is affected by:
- concentration of the substance;
- how long the substance was on the skin or mucous membrane;
- amount of substance;
- feature of the victim's skin.
Features of symptoms when exposed to various chemicals:
- acid. A scab occurs at the site of injury, the burn spreads deeply into the depths of the burn, a dense crust forms, which prevents wound infection;
- alkalis. The burn deepens quickly, the surface of the wound is weeping, and infections of the wound are frequent.
Chemical burns in children and first aid
The sooner you start providing first aid for burns, the better.
Help with chemical burns of the skin:
- Remove or cut clothing from the damaged area of the body.
- Rinse the wound with running water. The wound should be washed for at least 15 minutes. Water should be poured over the burn.
- Apply a dry aseptic bandage, seek help from a surgeon.
- In case of severe pain, give an anesthetic drug (Ibuprofen, Paracetamol) at an age-specific dosage.
Chemical eye burn, first aid:
- Rinse your eyes with running water as soon as possible, try to open your eyes. Flush the wound for at least 15 minutes.
- Apply a dry aseptic dressing.
- Seek help from an ophthalmologist.
If the child drank household chemicals from a beautiful package, it is important not to waste time, call an ambulance. Before the arrival of the doctor, you can try to give the baby a drink of water and induce vomiting. Unfortunately, the younger the baby, the more difficult it is to do it.
What can not be done with chemical burns?
- do not rinse the wound with anything other than water. Chemical reactions only aggravate and deepen burns, especially if it is a burn on the mucous membrane or eyes;
- do not rub the wound with a cloth or immerse the victim in a bath;
- don't wait, seek medical attention as early as possible;
- do not treat the wound surface with antiseptics. They can also react with a damaging substance and aggravate the situation.
Thermal burn in a child
Just like in adults, thermal burns can be classified according to the damaging factor:
- boiling water burn;
- steam burn;
- a burn on contact with a hot surface (iron, stove, hot dishes);
- flame burn.
Very often you have to see thermal burns of the legs with boiling water. Usually these burns occur in children who cannot walk, but who are already striving to learn the world, flatly refuse to sit somewhere. And as often happens, mother, taking the baby in her arms, begins to prepare dinner. The baby shakes his leg and gets it straight into a boiling pot.
Another option is when a child at an older age accidentally pours boiled liquid over himself.
In the second case, the burn area is larger. But most often it is not as deep as in the first case, since the liquid has time to cool down.
A child burns with boiling water, what should I do?
- Any liquid tends to spread. As a result, the burn area is often quite large. Therefore, first remove the child from the source of danger as soon as possible.
- Remove clothing from the burned area. This will reduce the temperature at the burn site. If it is not possible to remove it, cut it off and place the wound under cold water.
- After cooling the burn area, cover the area with a bandage. The bandage should not press, it should lie loosely.
- If you see a 2nd degree burn in a child, there are blisters and severe pain, do not pierce the blisters.
- Give the victim water or any child-like drink (tea, fruit drink, juice).
- Give your child an age-appropriate dose of pain reliever.
- In the case when the area of the burn is more than 10%, even if it is a 1st degree burn, it is better to show it to a doctor. If a child burns with boiling water of 2 degrees or more and an area of more than 10%, you need to take the baby to a burn hospital.
Often, children grab hot surfaces with their hands - stoves, irons, an oven. In the event of a burn from a hot surface in a child, first aid is provided in the same way as in the case of a burn with boiling water. The peculiarity of hot surfaces, for example, an iron, is only that a child's burn from an iron will be a small area, but perhaps deep enough - 2 - 3 degrees.
Flame burn in a child
If the child caught the flame on clothes or hair, the flame must be shot down, the best option is with water. If there is no water nearby, throw a thick blanket or blanket over the victim.
The main thing is to stop the supply of oxygen to the fire.
Try not to cover the victim's face to avoid carbon dioxide poisoning and thermal burns of the respiratory tract.
Get rid of the smoldering clothes as soon as possible, cool the wound, apply a loose aseptic bandage, and take the baby to the hospital in any way possible.
What should not be done and what can make the situation worse and deepen the burn?
- Do not rub the burnt place with a cloth.
- In case of a chemical burn, do not lower the victim into the bath. It is necessary to wash the wound only by pouring water on the wound.
- Do not smear fresh burns with oils, petroleum jelly, baby cream and other substances that create a protective film. It is possible to smear the injury site with these agents only after the wound has completely healed.
- Do not apply alcohol-based solutions to burns.
- Do not pierce the blisters, as this can lead to infection of the wound.
- Do not apply medicated ointments and creams immediately to a still hot burn, this can also aggravate the situation.
Burn disease
First aid has been provided, and it seems that everything will soon improve by itself, the pain will pass, the wounds will heal. With a first degree burn and a second degree with a small area of damage, this is most likely the case. But what can happen in the case of a large area and deep burns? Everything can end with a burn disease.
Burn disease is a disruption in the activity of all organs and systems caused by the loss of plasma and the breakdown of protein fractions in the human body.
A burn disease in children develops when a child receives deep burns of 3-4 degrees or shallow 2 degrees, but more than 10% of the area.
There are four periods of the disease:
- burn shock - develops in the first three days after a burn;
- acute burn toxemia;
- septicotoxemia;
- recovery.
Burn disease treatment is carried out only in the hospital.
Treatment of burns in children
How can burns in children be treated? Let me remind you once again that treatment should be prescribed by a doctor.
If you decide to take a risk and treat a small burn of 1 - 2 degrees on your own, please note that all ointments and creams cannot be rubbed. They need to be applied to the skin, as if creating a protective layer. The bandages should not press on, they should be applied loosely. Do not apply the plaster to the burned surface.
The most famous burn remedies for children:
- Dermazin. Approved for use in children from 2 months. Burn cream is used to apply to the skin 1 to 2 times a day. Can be used under a bandage or on exposed skin. You need to bandage every day. The drug is well resistant to the spread of wound infection;
- Panthenol. Burn ointment for children with dexpanthenol. Recommended for the treatment of 1st degree burns. It is applied after cooling the burned skin.
Prevention of burns
To summarize, once again I would like to draw your attention to special care when performing household duties:
- try to keep your child away from hot household appliances;
- do not take your baby in your arms when preparing dinner, especially do not hold him over a boiling pan;
- when pouring lunch for a child, check the temperature of the dish;
- wash your hands with your child, each time check the temperature of the water pouring from the tap;
- do not let children play with open fire;
- keep household chemicals, medicines, and hazardous chemicals locked up.
Be careful and extremely careful. The health of your kids depends on you.
Watch a video on children's burns.
