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Let burn wounds air?


cdnsniper

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Okay, I'm typing this with my two thumbs as I've given myself rope burns on Friday afternoon (it was a race that I ended up tying for second at 9.81 seconds). I'm pretty sure the burns would be rated as first degree burns but anyway after going to the hospital today afternoon (and after passing out after getting my hands cleaned). The doctor than told the nurse to dress my hands. She did this by putting some kind of lotion onto guaze and then putting something similar to fishnet stockings over my hands to hold the guaze in place.

Now my mother (retired nurse) and my sister (nurse) are disagreeing with covering the wounds up and instead think that I should "air my wounds out" but if the doctor says to cover them then they will do it anyway. I have looked on the web and it seems that burn centres recommend covering the wounds up. My question is where does this "common knowledge" that you should let burn wounds air out come from and why does it still persist to this day with even to where nurses believe it?

P.S.: I might follow up with some pictures of my hands once I can use all of my fingers (it'll be gruesome just so you know) ;)

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Well, medical knowledge always develops. 300 years ago they would have probably cut your thumbs off. I've been told to leave the wounds open to the air by older people if I get burnt, but whether it's better than covering it up I don't know.

The gauze and liquid may have been liquid skin, which binds with the wound and helps it grow back.

A school teacher once said how her a friend got badly burnt while young and they put her into a special ward, which was really really hot, and they weren't allowed to be covered by anything. Apparently she fully recovered with no scars.

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The websites that I've gone to have all said that leaving it open well increase the chances of infection along with drying the wounds out making them take longer to heal, and are uncomfortable (as though the way my hands are being covered is comfortable...).

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Open air increases the risk of infection, especially if your typing on a keyboard you may have sweated more than a few hrs of intense gaming. :P

The gause and dressing are there to keep the wound/burn from:

-being exposed to possible infection

-keep the skin soft vs crusty and prone to get scarring---which will happen still

-allows your whitebloodcells(WBC) that seek and fight off bacteria, to freely move around (think of it as earthworms easily moving in soft soil vs tough dry clay soil---YUCK!)

-gives more time for WBC to heal your wound/burn properly.

-gathers more sympathy to the opposite sex, therefore easier to find a hotter dates :lol:

(i.e you could pretend you entered some burning house to save some kittens)

-keeps your hands from touching yourself, further increasing your chance of infection.

-keeps a constant reminder for you to clean it daily, washing (if prescribed) adding more

anti-bacterial creme, changing gauze/bandage to keep it clean.

-good excuse not to do any of your dad's yardwork and allows you to milk some sympathy from your mother to cook your favorite meal.

Now if your sister has some cute nurse-co-worker, gives you a nice excuse to have them help you with your appendage---ops sorry bandages, being that both hands are helpless. :whistle:

True about modern medicine changes yearly. But you can't help the old saying, "Mothers knows best."

Good luck :thumbsup:

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lmao, thanks for the info ledanek. I've already thought about playing the whole "saving a house full of burning kittens" card with some girls at school (at least until i burst out laughing).

Anyway, back to seriousness, I'll still get scarring even though the burns aren't all that deep? I guess it'll just add to my collectiong of scars already on my hand...

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Burns should always be kept moist to prevent the skin drying and scabbing up.

If it was kept open it would dry up, becoming more painful and also risking infection.

Dressing should be changed regular to prevent infection.

The gauz dressing is there to allow the skin to breath without drying out, probably why some people think burns should be left to breath, because its a bit of both, allow the wound to breath but not dry out.

PS hope ya get better soon.

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Anyway, back to seriousness, I'll still get scarring even though the burns aren't all that deep? I guess it'll just add to my collectiong of scars already on my hand...

man that's gotta suc.. .. .. thats kinda rough... .. when...what if.. .. you have to.. .. y'know... ..

take care of business.. .. ..? :(

that's going to be easy ribbing material...

:lol:

alright I'm out!

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I work in a fast food restaurant, my role is in a kitchen most of the time on a grill, so i get random burns now n then, i just get a plaster on it .. Then its ok ..

Hopefully i'll be leaving for a transfer to another place .. :D

But it leaves a scar mostly on my hands.. :(

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Anyway, back to seriousness, I'll still get scarring even though the burns aren't all that deep? I guess it'll just add to my collectiong of scars already on my hand...

man that's gotta suc.. .. .. thats kinda rough... .. when...what if.. .. you have to.. .. y'know... ..

take care of business.. .. ..? :(

that's going to be easy ribbing material...

:lol:

alright I'm out!

...just shut up :P

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Serious burns need to be covered as they are already open or may blister & the blister may pop which will also leave them as an open wound, therefore as stated before they are susceptible to infection.

Any minor burn can be left to air which is where our parents & grandparents got their information. I've had the same arguement with mine before.

It's the same as those burn sprays you can get, they are also only any use for minor burns, it even says on the can not to use if the skin is broken etc.....Burns are real confusing things!

Best advice I can give you is to take your doctors orders & hide from anyone else till it heals :P

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Alright, I have some pics of my burns. They aren't all that bad, but for a rope I suppose it did get me pretty good...

Left Hand (With flammozinn on the wounds)

Right Hand (Flammozinn and something that started to come out of my hand)

Right Hand (At the hospital the day after)

Right Hand (At home on Sunday)

PS: I have to thank the guy who invented vodka. If it wasn't invented the first two hours after getting those burns would have been a lot more painful :whistle: .

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All I know is that it isn't painful, and to me, that's not as bad as some of the other injuries I've had lol. Also, I'm pretty sure that my palm of my right hand is the worst as it has a much deeper colour of red, but whatever, as long as my fingers heal quickly I'll be happy. (writing at school is a little harder now :P )

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Your lucky you didn't have to go through what i had to when i lost nine of my fingers in a break press. I feel sorry for you, but i went through 9 mounths of healing time before my fingers even started to move again. Look at my pics over at Myspace in pics if you want to see my wounds.

Anyways i hope you heal fast and the scares aint so bad. Plus even though i had diffrent type of wounds i was told to soak my hands in Peroxide everyday to clean them then after drying them i was told to let them air dry for like a hour or so everyday to help close the open wound up alittle faster, if not i would stay raw and sor much longer. Again my was a diffrent wound, but keeping it wraped up keeps it raw and tender for much longer of a time compared to air drying a hour aday atleast. Only thing i can say is if you do air dry don't go over to much where it scabs. If you do just soak in Peroxide for awhile to soften up the scabs.

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Oh man, no doubt that what you went through was much worse. Thanks for the info about air drying, I've started doing that two days ago with my left hand as it is pretty close to 100%. My right hand is also looking pretty good, it's just the palm I'm worried about right now (but at least I get a nasty looking scar out of it) :D .

Also, after doing some google checking it would appear that my burns are second degree. :(

Edited by cdnsniper
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Your lucky you didn't have to go through what i had to when i lost nine of my fingers in a break press. I feel sorry for you, but i went through 9 mounths of healing time before my fingers even started to move again. Look at my pics over at Myspace in pics if you want to see my wounds.

Anyways i hope you heal fast and the scares aint so bad. Plus even though i had diffrent type of wounds i was told to soak my hands in Peroxide everyday to clean them then after drying them i was told to let them air dry for like a hour or so everyday to help close the open wound up alittle faster, if not i would stay raw and sor much longer. Again my was a diffrent wound, but keeping it wraped up keeps it raw and tender for much longer of a time compared to air drying a hour aday atleast. Only thing i can say is if you do air dry don't go over to much where it scabs. If you do just soak in Peroxide for awhile to soften up the scabs.

ouch... that must have been one hell of an experience... hows the mobility in your hand now?

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Don't want to steal he's topic, but im still on work leave & many hours of therpy every week. Im still haven surgy with one coming up for my left thumb to have a tenden reattached plus alot of scare tissue in my palm going to be released so i can move alittle more. As for movment i lost over 60% of motion in both hands. I will never be able to make a fist in ether hand ever again. Lets just hope i never get in a fight or im going to have to just keep slapping him silly! anyways If you have a x360 controler and close your hands around it that is the max i can bring my fingers in! Kind of got lucky there at least i can still play!!!

This was back on 06/May/01 and im still paying in pain everyday becuase of 15 seconds of a break press that double tripped! Oh and the funny part is 06/May is my long time girlfriend of 10 years Birthday. So when her birthday comes up it's never my fav day!

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This was back on 06/May/01 and im still paying in pain everyday becuase of 15 seconds of a break press that double tripped! Oh and the funny part is 06/May is my long time girlfriend of 10 years Birthday. So when her birthday comes up it's never my fav day!

Dude, do I need to slap you silly? On that date you should really be thinking of her and not your hands. Having a GF for 10 years is a long time and you should be doing something nice for her on her birthday. I know that it has not been long since you lost them, but in a year, I almost forgot I lost the tips of two of my fingers in 89 (I still remember the date and time it happened). I look at it as just another day. Now, go take your GF out for a belated birthday dinner someplace really expensive to show that you care!

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LOL, oh on that date it's all about her trust me she gets the whole day all about her.

Yet that 15 sec of bones snapping off still hunt me on that day will everyday really. But it's still all about her with a quick hunting chill at least once or twice is all.

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