Question for the burn nurses!

[LoneWolfRN2010]

I am not a burn nurse! I need a little help, and hope someone here can give me a little insight. I work in mom/baby, so don't deal with these things!

I had a run-in over the weekend with a very hot motorcycle tailpipe. Burned an area of my outer calf about 2" in diameter. It hurt. A lot.

At any rate, I left the blisters alone. Due to the location of it however, the blisters broke on their own and drained. Still, I left it alone, didn't pick anything off, etc. Just let it be. I had a Telfa non-stick pad taped loosely over it just to keep my pants from rubbing against it, etc. The blistered part of skin had dried and was rough. My Telfa pad fell off on my way home, and I figured i'd just replace it when I got home. However, the pants I had on today are the type that snag on everything..... including rough, dry skin. when I went to change otu of them, it caught on the dry area and ripped part of the dry skin off, revealing the moist area that had been under the blister. that hurt.

My question is what do I cover it with now? Keep it moist or keep it dry? Keep it covered or leave it uncovered? From what little we did on burns in school, I remember moist, sterile coverings. But that was also talking about major burns, so I don't really know what I should do with this. I guess I'll make a run to the Dr's office tomorrow if I have to, but this is certainly nothing that requires a visit to the ER, so for now I am stuck dealing with it on my own.

[tewdles, RN]

Can't give you specific advice because I cannot assess your wound. However, generically one would expect to keep the wound bed clean, moist, and protected while it heals.