childs burn

BRANDY LPN · Jan 21, 2004

Where is the burn? How big is it? How did your daughter get this burn? How old is your daughter? If you could provide us with more details it would help us answer your question.

luvbbs · Jan 21, 2004

The burn is on her thigh its about 2 inches long and 1 in wide its a

light pink in color and has a few tiny blisters on it. She was burned with hot liquid I immediatly put cold water on. Its been about 2 hrs and it basically looks like a sunburn...She is 3

BRANDY LPN · Jan 21, 2004

DO NOT put any thing oil based on it ie triple antibiotic ointment. You may want to contact your MD and see if he/she will order you some silvadine-sp. My son burned his hand when he was 2 and they instrcted me to try to keep the blisters intact unless the fluid appeared cloudy. I really think you should call your doctor though as burns tend to get infected easily and they may want to see her and clean/dress/treat it to prevent this. Sorry I cant help you more. I know how afwul it is to watch your little one hurt.

Rapheal · Jan 21, 2004

If you put ice on it please make sure the ice is wrapped in a clean towel or something to prevent too much cold from damaging the skin. Also remember to keep ice on for only 10-20 minutes then remove for another 10-20 minutes. Ice left on too long causes vasoconstiction and further skin damage. I would call the doc just to be on the safe side. Hope your little one feels better soon.

luvbbs · Jan 21, 2004

Thankyou for all the info..I have called a friend to help me take her to the Dr. I dont speak Japanese so hopefully she will be able to help me..she seems to be doing better and I never put ice on it just clean cold cloth now she says it doenst bother her so I just put a sterile piece of gauze on it just incase the blister popped until we get to the DR hopefully today its soooo different over here when it comes to DR appts and such!! And wouldnt you know it my husband is unreachable at business meetings:o

Thankyou

Stacey

LydiaGreen · Jan 21, 2004

Please don't put ice on it. The tissue is already damaged and will not react like normal healthy tissue (the 20 minute rule) to the ice, it will cause more damage than good. Before nursing school, my little girl grabbed the oven door when it was open (she slipped away from Daddy who was watching her in the living room). It was terrible... the palmar surfaces of all four fingers. I immediately poured a bowl of cold milk and held her hand in it while distracting her with everything under the sun. The second her hand hit the cold milk, she quit crying... the pain was gone. She was laughing by ten minutes into it and when I removed her hand after twenty minutes, it was incredible. I swear the skin had started blistering the second after she grabbed the door; after twenty minutes in milk, it was just some minor redness, no blisters, no pain. The cold milk cools the tissue to stop the burning process but it also contains vitamins A and D which aid in healing. I really hope your daughter is feeling much better.

luvbbs · Jan 22, 2004

We went to the Dr finally this morning 24 hrs since thise happened...We woke up this morning and I took the gauze of to check the burns and the blisters were so huge must have been about two tablespoons of liquid..so I managed to find a lady in town (we live way up in the mountains) who speaks a bit of English and she wrote a note to the Dr about what happened and off I was.. The Dr speaking very little english was very surprised and started working on the blisters..he drained them then applied a very thick white cream and then covered with sterile gauze and then put a wrap on her leg to hold it all together..(looks like what you would hold a pork roast together while it cooks) anyways we are to return everyday for treatment for one week to make sure infection doesnt set in..He mentioned it was second degree burns:o I feel just awful my stomach is so upset and my heart is broken.. Using this heavy cream is this going to keep it from scaring? Or after treatments and the area is healed what can I use to prevent/lessen (if thats a word)scaring? Any suggestions would be lovely!!!

Thankyou to all

Stacey

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 22, 2004

The thick cream was probably Silvadene or something similar. It is supposed to help prevent infection.

After it is well healed, it will probably be a bit pink and thin. You can try cocoa butter to try and help with scarring. (It needs to be totally healed before you do this, though.) In the past, I've known of burn doctors to use Crisco (yes, the shortening) to help keep burn scars down.

Likely, at her age, she will heal quickly and well and scarring won't be much of an issue. It's usually not for 2nd degree burns anyway.

If she has pain, Motrin or Tylenol will help.

Quit kicking yourself. Accidents do happen, no matter how hard you try. You can't always anticipate everything your kid will do. A second degree burn is one that blisters, so it's not quite as awful as it sounds. It's also a fairly small area.

I was a nurse *before* I had kids, and when mine were little my husband used to say I was paranoid because I was very cautious about a lot of things (working Pediatric Intensive Care will do that for you). We had several ER runs, but one will be 18 in 3 months and the other will be 14 tomorrow and they've survived so far. I knew a doctor once who had 4 boys and swore that boys were born with the instinct to self-destruct).

By the way, you did exactly the right thing when you put the cold water on right away.