People who sustain burns should seek medical treatment if the burn’s surface area is larger than the size of a hand, a surgeon at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) said yesterday.
Accidentally getting burned is a common injury in households, but aside from immediately cooling the wound with clean tap water, choosing the proper dressing can protect the wound from infection and accelerate healing.
After cooling burns, the size of the wound, as well as the severity of the blisters and pain, should be observed to determine whether to seek medical attention, Perng Cherng-kang (彭成康), a physician at TVGH’s Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, said at a forum organized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Photo: CNA
“The size of one hand, including the palm and the fingers, can be considered 1 percent of whole body surface area,” he said.
“A burn that is smaller than the size of a hand can usually heal using wound dressing, but if the size [of the burn area] is bigger than 1 percent, I would recommend going to a hospital for treatment,” he said.
Perng said there are four degrees of burns: First-degree burns cause minimal skin damage that may show signs of redness, swelling, but may not scar; second-degree burns cause damage to the epidermis and part of the dermis layer of skin; third-degree burns extend down into the subcutaneous tissue; and fourth-degree burns extend to the underlying bones, muscles and tendons.
The treatment for first-degree burns usually involves only keeping the wound moist, but blisters will appear in second-degree burns, so preventing the wound from getting infected is important, he said.
As fluid seeps from third and fourth-degree burns, choosing antibacterial and waterproof wound dressing is important, he said.
FDA Division of Medical Devices Director Wu Ting-yao (吳亭瑤) said there are three types of wound dressings: traditional fabric (eg, gauze, cotton pad), synthetic (eg, hydrophilic fiber, polyurethane foam, silicon gel sheet) and biologic (eg, collagen film derived from animals).
Perng said traditional fabric dressings can absorb water and are more appropriate for small and mild degree injuries; synthetic dressings can limit moisture loss, reduce pain from removing the dressing and can be used on larger wounds; and biologic wound dressings are usually used for more serious burns.
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