Ouch! I burned myself!

[Sultana]

Yes, I burned myself cooking...ummm, heating dinner last night in the oven. Lightly brushed my hand on the rack, and suddenly the air around me turned a vivid shade of blue. Proof positive that cooking dinner is dangerous to your health, I've learned my lesson, won't be doing *that* again!

Anyways, I ran cold water over it for a while, and put neosporin on it right away, and again before I went to bed. I gently wrapped a gauze bandage over it to protect it as I slept, but of course the gauze was nowhere near me when I woke.

The skin is not broken, but it's an icky umm, gray-ish color (not actually gray, but I don't know how else to describe it--taupe?) with red around it, about 1.5 inches long. Starting to blister a little tiny bit on one end.

I've been alternating rounds of neosporin, Mederma, and aloe vera gel and leaving it unwrapped. If anyone else has any more input with how to keep it from looking ugly-er and healing ASAP, I'd appreciate it. I don't want to have to wear body make up on my hand for my big show this Saturday, and I don't want a big red distracting welt on my hand either.

Thanks in advance!

[shakran]

you're doing the right steps. If you're not in pain, you're lucky. You will be wearing makeup for your Saturday show most likely - -there's gonna be red splotches there for a couple weeks unless you heal insanely fast.

Good to see that you didn't put ice on it - that's a definite bad move.

[Spiffgirl]

Wrap it up. If you keep the area moist and clean, it's going to heal faster, with less chance of scarring (By moist, I mean not exposing it to the air all the time). I've sustained many cooking-related burns...ouchie.

[yournamehere]

Aloe vera works better than any product "made from" it.

Buy a plant and take care of it - when you need it, it'll take care of you. I've had blistered burns that healed within a few days with steady, liberal applications.

If the climate won't cooperate, keep it indoors. Looks like you're okay there, though.

Make sure you get the right kind of aloe - Aloe barbadensis

Other than that, the most important thing (and you did it) is to run cold water over it immediately to prevent further skin damage. I'm going to disagree with Spiffgirl's advice - The faster you can keep it exposed to air (without hurting) the quicker it'll heal. The blister needs to dry before it can be replaced with healthy skin from below. However, depending on the area it covers, remember - keeping infection away is your primary concern, so keep it covered if the blister breaks or seems like it will.

[Sultana]

Well, the blister broke, lost a wee bit of skin, but I'm putting neosporin on it every hour or so, and it's not looking or feeling infected.

Thanks for the input folks, I do appreciate it.

[skier]

Originally Posted by yournamehere

I'm going to disagree with Spiffgirl's advice - The faster you can keep it exposed to air (without hurting) the quicker it'll heal. The blister needs to dry before it can be replaced with healthy skin from below. However, depending on the area it covers, remember - keeping infection away is your primary concern, so keep it covered if the blister breaks or seems like it will.

I'm going to have to disagree with yournamehere :P From my experience with burns (of which i have many, working in a kitchen) they definetly heal fastest if you keep a bandage on them and keep them moist with an antibiotic agent like polysporin. The most noticeable scars i have from burns are when I leave them dry or exposed to open air. The longer you can keep the damaged or blistered skin over the wound without further trauma the better the skin underneath has done. If the damaged skin is really a lost cause it'll basically come off on it's own and then you keep the newly forming skin underneath moist and free from infection.. definetely keep a bandage on at all times.

If a hard scab forms, you're not doing it right while it's a natural defense against infection, it does a poor job of scarless and fast healing compared to products on the market today.

[snowy]

Originally Posted by skier

I'm going to have to disagree with yournamehere :P From my experience with burns (of which i have many, working in a kitchen) they definetly heal fastest if you keep a bandage on them and keep them moist with an antibiotic agent like polysporin. The most noticeable scars i have from burns are when I leave them dry or exposed to open air. The longer you can keep the damaged or blistered skin over the wound without further trauma the better the skin underneath has done. If the damaged skin is really a lost cause it'll basically come off on it's own and then you keep the newly forming skin underneath moist and free from infection.. definetely keep a bandage on at all times.

If a hard scab forms, you're not doing it right while it's a natural defense against infection, it does a poor job of scarless and fast healing compared to products on the market today.

Yes, you should bandage your burn, but it's usually better to use a clean piece of gauze/rolled bandage and some medical tape to fix it in place than an actual bandage, and don't use any kind of fluffy cotton that can stick to the wound. I prefer to use burn gel or Bactine on the actual burn instead of Neosporin or similar because of the petroleum base (which can keep the heat in the burn instead of letting it out) and a loose gauze bandage (the cotton of the gauze helps wick the heat away from the burn while protecting it).

Burn gel should always be a part of a home first aid kit, because burns are so common, and burn gel helps tremendously in treating and helping to heal the burn.

And yes, Sultana, burns are a common side effect of cooking. Like skier, I too have worked in a kitchen, and I too have burnt myself many, MANY times As much as I try to prevent burns--they always seem to happen anyways, and so it's best to be prepared--which is why I'd also recommend taking first aid, if you haven't

[Sultana]

When you say burn gel, what specifically are you referring to? I looked at the drug store last night and couldn't find anything more than Neosporin for burn treatment.

Since this happened on Monday night, there's no fear of keeping heat in the burn, so I guess I'll use a bandaid type bandage, since that's all I have access to just now, and the darn gauze I tried to use just gets hooked on everything all day long (the problem with an injury on a hand, I suppose).

I was actually certified in first aid and CPR, but that was long ago. I guess it wouldn't hurt to look into renewing my certs.

[snowy]

This is the burn gel I have used: http://www.drugstore.com/products/pr...-PLST-0-SEARCH

[yournamehere]

I guess my mileage varies - like I said, using aloe I usually heal in a few days, and only have one scar - from a very large burn (on my leg - from a motorcycle exhaust pipe). And never an infection.

Regardless, as everyone agrees, you should keep it protected while the blister is broken.

[Spanxxx]

I'll give my two cents about the burn and scabbing as well.

Scabbing creates scarring. Period. So, a scab, though it is our bodies natural protection from infection, might not be the way to go. The only way to reduce scabbing is to keep the area moist, and/or remove the scabs. When I was 17, my father had a really bad motorcycle accident that removed a great deal of skin from NUMEROUS places of his body. While he was in the hospital, they would DAILY take him to the hot tub, sponge him down, and then scrub....that's right SCRUB the scabs off his wounds with something like a loufa sponge. He said they did it to try and keep new skin growth coming in and to prevent scarring.

Now, I'm not sure I'd be so extreme if I were you, but keeping clean guaze on the wound and dressing it probably twice a day with liberal application of aloe vera and/or a neosporin type ointment is probably good advice.


Now, as for the show... just wear sexy gloves!