First Aid For Burns With Hot Water

You are preparing dinner or making yourself a nice hot tea. You turn on the hot water from your tap and the water comes out hot. In the kitchen, hot water burns are very common. In the rest of this article, we will explain what the first steps to take in such a situation are.

The different types of burns

Before you decide which treatment you are going to use to treat a hot water burn, it is important that you know that there are three main types of burns.

First degree burns

They affect the outer or superficial layer of the skin. Their symptoms are redness, swelling, and slight pain. The area will peel in 7 days and, after 2 weeks, the skin will have regained its original appearance.

Second degree burns

They are more serious than the previous ones. Because they reach the second layer of the dermis. They cause blisters and inflammation. The pain felt is therefore much stronger. The blisters disappear after a week.

The total healing time for these burns is 3 weeks. In some cases, the skin may change color (be lighter or darker) after healing is complete.

Third degree burns

These are the most severe. If you have third degree burns, you should definitely call a doctor or the emergency services. The burn pierces all layers of the skin and is extremely painful, even unbearable.

Hot water burns

Hot water burns are very common in domestic life. Putting a pot of hot water on the fire can be very dangerous. Even degenerate into a real tragedy if children are present. When they are affected by burns, they can develop severe lesions.

And it is a much more frequent phenomenon than one might think. You must therefore be very careful, in all cases, not to put saucepans near the edge of a stove.

If a small amount of water hits our skin and only stays in contact with it for a few seconds, that’s absolutely okay. If this happens to you, you can submerge the affected area under cold water.

Or leave it under the running tap for 5 minutes, to soothe the inflamed skin layer from contact with heat.

If the burn is a little more severe, you can do the same, but the time that your skin will have to spend under hot water is longer. In the case of a second degree burn, you should stay at least 15 minutes under cold water.

Depending on the area affected by the burn, the treatment is not the same. You can also wrap the burnt part of your body in a wet towel or apply a plastic bag filled with ice cubes to it. In any case, never apply ice cubes directly to your skin.

Hot water burn treatments

While you are cooling the lesion, you should try to assess the severity of the burn. If the pain does not go away after a few minutes. And as the redness gets worse and blisters start to form, you need to think about getting to an emergency medical service quickly.

Conversely, if your symptoms gradually decrease, you can opt for home treatment. Take a compress and moisten it. Wrap the affected area with it, then wait for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

But if you feel the need, you can also change it to soothe your pain. This technique will isolate the burn and prevent it from coming into contact with objects and surfaces that may contain harmful agents.

Aloe vera is one of the best remedies for superficial skin burns. Whether caused by hot water, scorching oil, or the sun. You should not do without this plant at home. Just cut a stem in half, lengthwise, to extract the gel.

This viscous liquid has many properties, among which we find a strong moisturizing power. Spread it on the affected area and leave it on until it is completely absorbed into the skin.

If you wish, you can also wrap the area with sterile gauze, although it is advisable to let the skin breathe.

In the event of severe burns, when should you go to the hospital emergency room?

Imagine that a saucepan full of hot water spills over on you. Your clothes may have stuck to you from the humidity and heat. Do not attempt to remove them. Pour cold water over it and call 911 immediately.

They will take care of removing your clothes so that you do not suffer any further after-effects.

If, due to hot water burns, a blister forms in the affected area, you should not attempt to pierce it under any circumstances. This action would then cause a more serious injury, as well as an irreversible scar and infection.

Bandage it for a few days so it doesn’t explode. But let the skin breathe in the air from time to time. But if the size of the bulb seems important to you, we recommend that you go to the doctor.

If it is very painful and causes some kind of pressure that does not allow you to move your affected limb normally. Make a slight incision to remove the fluid trapped inside. But be very careful. Sterilize a small needle and pierce one side of the blister (never the center) to drain the pus.

Steps to Treating a Burn at Home

We are referring here to superficial hot water burns. Which do not exceed the second degree. After having immersed or rinsed the area for a long time with cold water, we recommend that you perform the following actions:

• Apply a little petroleum jelly to the area and wrap it with sterilized gauze. 
• Bandage the burn completely during the first day, without over tightening.
• Take painkillers, like ibuprofen for example.
• Change your bandage at night and let the lesion breathe every morning.
• Moisten the bandage before removing it, so that it does not stick to the skin.
• After 7 days, cleanse then remove the dead skin using a gauze moistened with isotonic water (without forcing).

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