How To Manage Minor Burns When there is No Medical Help by ityfrank

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Goodmorning great Steemians, it's my pleasure to bring to you how to manage minor burns at home.
Minor burns can be successfully handled at home before you get a professional medical help, or if it happens in the night where you can't get to a pharmacy or a hospital on time. I'm sure the injury won't be able to wait; because it will start forming blisters almost immediately if one of the measures that will be discussed here is not implemented.

Burn injuries no matter how minor can be very painful. What makes it even more painful is the ugly blisters it forms. Blisters are those small liquid bubbles under the skin we get often casued by a hot water, fire, friction or pressure. Disease or infection can also cause a blister, however, I will be dealing with blisters caused by just hot water or fire.

If you can stop these ugly blisters from forming, you are on your way to avoiding a scar and having a quick recovery, because these blisters often get broken, and infection will set in thereby prolonging their healing and making them more painful. So it's best to stop any blisters from forming in the first place.

Before we look at ways to avoide these blisters from forming, let's see what we shouldn't do when we have a burn injury.

• Iceing: It is a common thing to see people trying to treat burns by putting ice on it. Though it gives a feeling of coolness, and takes away the pain temporarily, but this act usually ends up worsening the situation. It should be noted that injuries caused by cold is often as serious as those caused by burns, because they also damage the tissues. So when you do this, you are just adding a cold injury to an existing heat injury. Rather, a safe thing to do is to expose the affected area to a tap of running water for about ten minutes before proceeding to any of the following remedies that is going to be discussed.

• Using any thing we feel should sooth a wound. We see people use Mayonnaise, mustard, honey, butter, tooth paste, etc on burn injuries. If any of these is contaminated, it can lead to an infection. Also, even they don't, they may trap the heat in and impede healing.

• Popping the Blister: If a blister is already formed, never try to pop it by yourself because you will only succeed in opening it up for infection. That's why you see the liquid in there turning to yellow: a purse is forming because it has been infected! At this point you need a professional medical personnel to drain it and give you the right treatment.

• Underrating The Burn: It's common to see people think they burn is not that serious and don't do anything about it until it's too late, and part of the body has to be amputated or loses its function.

• the burn is as big or bigger than the palm of your hand.
• there is blisters already formed.
• there is redness of the area beyond the areas of the burn. This indicates that it has been infected, and,
• there is persistent fever.

There are many safe ways to handle minor burn injuries right in the home before you get a proper medical care. Some of this ways can even handle it effectively and you my not need any professional medical attention if and only if they are administered immediately. They include:

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Shea Butter is an oily paste from the seed of shea tree found in East and West tropical Africa. It can be bought over the counter at some pharmacy or in the open market. When you have a minor burn, quickly rub a good quantity of it over the affected part, and it will heal the skin and no blister will be formed. Keep using it until your skin goes back to normal.

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Blue seal Vaseline is a product of petroleum jelly and just like Shea butter, it's very good for minor burn injuries. Just rub a little on the affected part and make sure it covers it completely.

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"Ndise" is the Ibibio name for this plant. It's in the family Cucurbitaceae, same as water melon, squash and pumpkin. It looks exactly like water melon, but it is eaten cooked, not fresh. The leaves of this plant are used to treat burn injuries.

When you have a burn, quicky squash and squeeze out the water from the leaves of the plant and smear it evenly on the affected part. It works like magic. Within few minutes, the place is healed!
Of course, the best way this remedy is going to be feasible is for one to have the plant in his/her garden close to the house. Besides, its fruit is edible, so why not add it to your list of plants in your garden?!

By salt, we mean table salt. Yes, the salt we use in cooking. Fortunately, everyone has some amount of it right in their kitchen where this accident is most likely to occurs.
So immediately you have a burn, quick put salt on the affected part, and moisten it a bit with water so they can stick together and also have a better surface contact with the skin. Leave it there for as long as necessary untill you feel no pain from the site.

Even for more server burns, the use of salt and Cucurbitaceae leaves can serve a good First Aid while on the way to a better medical treatment, because it can be easily removed by rinsing without any friction to the now delicate skin unlike the rest.

However there are certain types of burn injuries that needs immediate medical attention. If you must attempt the above home remedies, do that while on your way to receiving professional medical attention. Such instances include:

• Third-degree burns which can appear charred, whitish or translucent, and having no sensation even when the area is pricked with a pin.

• Burn injuries that cover a large surface areas of the body, say, more than ten percent.

• When the person has Pre-existing medical condition like diabetes, that can make recovery complicated.

• Burns that involve sensitive and/or exposed part of your body like, the face, genitals or major joints or large burns that involves the hands or feet.

Don't ignore a burn injury. Take prompt action to save yourself from pain and scars that won't go away long after the wounds have healed.

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