Burn Injuries Colorado

Prevention, as they say, is the best cure. By keeping some basic safety regulations in your home and abroad, you can help keep you and your children safe from painful and sometimes hazardous burn injuries. Teach your kids early on that the stove and the fireplace are dangerous places and need to be treated with respect. Make sure you always use gloves when taking things out of the oven or handling hot dishes, and make sure your kids learn to stay away from pots and pans fresh out of the oven. The only thing worse than a bad burn on your own hand is one on the hand of your three year old child.

Keep a first aid kit at hand in your home as well, and make sure it has the proper supplies you’ll need to treat a burn wound, such as moleskin for blisters and antiseptic cream. In fact, the mere knowledge of how to treat burn injuries could likely come in very valuable should such an injury occur in your in Coloradohome.

The first thing that should be done to any burn injury is to apply cold running water. This is the most effective treatment you can do to a burn – simply place the burned tissue under cold, running water and let it sit for several minutes to half an hour, depending on the severity of the burn. Doing so can dramatically reduce the swelling and blistering burn injuries usually cause.

If you can’t get to cold running water in time, substitute the next best thing. Wet cloths are passable as a burn treatment, especially if you can use two of them and alternate them every couple of minutes. Because the cloths slowly warm to the surface temperature of the skin – removing their healing capability – alternating them allows them to cool in the open air and better aid your skin.

Though one might think it common sense, do not use ice, butter, or creams on a burn. Doing so can be harmful rather than helpful, and will not help the healing process at all. If you must, wrap ice in a towel and allow it to melt through the cloth before applying it to the burn injury.

In the case of more serious burns, you’ll have to take more careful safety precautions. If clothing covers the burn area, pull it away from the burn area. Cloth can hold heat in burn injuries and cause them to become even worse than they already are, so remove clothing from burns as quickly as possible.

Jewelry can be harmful too if swelling occurs, so get it off as soon as possible. If a hand is burned, for instance, swelling can cause a ring to constrict blood flow in the finger and make the ring almost impossible to remove after the fact. If you get jewelry off right away, you’ll prevent blood clotting and harm caused by swelling.

For a large burn or any burn that actually raises physical blisters, you will probably want to seek medical attention. Such burn injuries can become infected and cause extreme pain, annoyance, and possibly even serious health risks, and should be looked at and treated by professionals in Colorado. Be wise, and make sure you, your children, and your friends are well taken care of in the event of a serious burn injury.

Gregory & O'Sullivan, P.C.

(303)446-2780
1875 Lawrence St., Suite 540
Denver, CO
http://www.gregoryandosullivan.com