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How can you determine what type of burn wound you are dealing with. Here are some guidelines for understanding how serious a burn is and the proper level of care required for a minor burn wound.
Minor Burn: A minor burn is when only the most outer layers of skin are burned but not burned all the way through. Minor burns will leave the skin red least serious burns are those in which only the outer layer of skin is burned, but not all the way through. A minor burn can leave the skin red, swollen and in most cases painful. In most cases you can follow some basic principals for treating a minor burn, but in some cases a minor burn affects large areas such as the face, hands, feet, groin or buttocks it is important to seek professional medical attention. s
There are a couple of steps you should follow before wrapping your wound when you get burnt. The first step is to diagnose the level of your wound since it determines whether you should wrap it or not. The term 'burn' is a broad one and may refer to different types of burns as chemical, radiant or thermal, and three levels as first, second and third level burns. The first level can be considered minor burns and do not need clinical treatment. You can observe redness, superficial swelling and mild pain. The wounds are quite on the surface of your skin, which doctors call 'partial thickness', and do not occupy more than 1% of your skin surface.
After making sure that your wound is a minor burn, the second step to follow is to place the affected area under cold water. Iced water or ice should definitely be avoided, though. Placing a burn wound onto ice or into ice water could lead to greater damaged caused by cold such as frostbite. If you apply cold water on your wound in the first minutes, it can help reduce the area of burn and its depth.
Once these basic steps are followed, your wound is ready for wrapping. The golden rule is to dress your wound with a non-stick material. Using a non-stick material ensures that your skin will not be removed from the healing process once the bandages are removed. These materials may include paraffin gauze dressings, nylon dressings coated with silicon, polyurethane films and hydrocolloid dressings. To pick up the most suitable dressing for your wound, you may need to consult your pharmacy or doctor. After this non-adherent dressing, you should cover the wound with an absorbent layer such as gauze bandage making sure that you don't squeeze the wound. If your wound seems to develop slough that you cannot remove with gentle cleansing, consider using hydrogel dressings. And lastly, in whatever condition your wound is, you should avoid using any creams or lotions on it without consulting your doctor since they may cause infection.
