a question on burns

Specialties Burn

Published

hello all,

have any of you nurses treated young, dark skinned patients with second degree burns on their face?

do you have any idea if the scars go away also what is the best thing to use to help with the healing process.

thanks in advance.

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Specializes in Peds, PACU, ICU, ER, OB, MED-Surg,.

Most facial burns are sent to specialized burn units. Have seen a few burns though. Debridement is important to prevent the scar tissue from being too thick. Silvadene and dressing. Hope a plastic surgeon has been consulted.

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Well, I haven't treated anyone like that but several years ago I was dating a young black man who was working under a car and lit a candle for light. Stupid I know. He lit the candle, gas dripped on his face, and he set his face on fire. He looked horrible, his daughter was afraid of him. He was taken to a burn center in Athens, GA and he recovered with very minimal, if any, scarring.

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I am not a nurse. I am a student nurse and I have been a Burn Care nurse assistant for 2 years.

I will not name the med you should use for fear that you may try to treat this potentially very serious injury yourself. Also depending on the depth and size of the burn the med will very. Any burn to the face that is bigger than a pencil eraser should be seen by a burn doctor.

With that said first and second degree burns in the very young like children and babies heal very well. Dark skinned people's scares tend to be more noticeable. I have seen children less than 2 years old with second degree burns to their entire face that healed with very little to no scarring in just a few months"it does take a lot of time". Anyone above 2 years old with any major burn will almost certainty have some scarring. Too what degree depends person to person and burn to burn, even the most experienced doctor will not be able to answer that question.

~Hope that helped

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