A burn refers to damages sustained on your skin or other parts of the body caused by high/extreme heat, hot flames, or contact with chemicals and heated objects. It is characterized by extensive skin damage that results in the death of the skin cells around the area of injury.

Medically, there are different degrees of burns, and together with the causative factors, they influence the consequences an individual will suffer and how fast or slow the recovery process will be. Severe burns need immediate medical attention, so should you ever get one and you are in Texas, make sure you rush to an ER near you that offers emergency care for burns. An option to consider in such a situation is Express ERs which offers severe burn treatment in the ER to help prevent the possibility of complications and even death.

Causes of Burns

There so many factors that can lead to burns, but the most common are:

• Getting into contact with corrosive chemicals
• Electricity
• Boiling liquids
• Excessive exposure to the sun
• Fires, i.e., flames from lighters, candles, and matches

Electrical and chemical burns need prompt medical care since they can easily affect the body parts and tissues beneath the skin, even if the damage on the skin is minor.

Levels of Burn Injury

Burn injuries are normally grouped into three primary levels, that is:

• First-degree burn

It is also known as superficial burn as it affects the skin’s outermost layer. It causes minimal damage to the skin, and some of its signs include redness, pain, swelling, minor inflammation, and peeling of the dry skin as the wound heals. The mentioned signs will normally disappear after there is shedding of the injured skin cells. The healing process varies among individuals, but it should not exceed ten days.

Health experts recommend seeing a doctor if a large skin area has been affected or if the damage has been sustained on major joints and body parts like the knee, elbow, shoulder, forearm, ankle, spine, foot, or face.

First-degree burn wounds can be treated at home, and healing time is influenced by how soon you get treated. The following tips can help speed up the healing process:

• Soak the injured area in cold water for at least five minutes. Avoid using ice as it may worsen the injury.
• Take pain-relieving medication for the pain
• Protect the injured part from infection with loose gauze and antibiotic ointment. Never use cotton balls on burned areas as they will predispose you to infections.
• Second-degree burns

These are more severe burns and will cause blisters on the skin since the injury extends past the superficial layer of the skin. Areas with second-degree burn injuries are extremely sore and red. The blisters may at times pop open, leading to a weeping or wet appearance on the burn.
Wounds resulting from second-degree burns are delicate and need to be cleaned and bandaged properly to keep them free of infections and fasten the healing process. This type of burn may take more than 21 days to heal but, in most patients, the healing duration is between 14 to 21 days and is normally accompanied by changes in skin pigmentation. In some, the damages sustained are so severe that a skin grafting procedure will be necessary to fix them. Skin grafting involves taking a healthy part of your skin from a different area and fixing it on the site of the damaged skin.
You can adapt the treatment remedies mentioned under first-degree burns, but it is important that you go to an emergency room near you if the following areas are affected: face, hands, feet, groin, or buttocks.

• Third-degree burns

Full-thickness burns or third-degree burns destroy the skin and underlying tissue and are more serious than first- and second-degree burns. Unlike other less severe burn wounds, which are very painful, third-degree burns may be painless as a result of damage to the nerve endings found in your skin. The injured site may look white, grey, brown, black, yellow, waxy, or charred.
If you suffer from this burn, you will have to be hospitalized, and the treatment administered will depend on the location, extent, and severity of your burn. Failure to get treatment will lead to fatal complications. Burn treatment emergency medicines, skin grafts, surgery, and IV fluids are normally used to treat such patients.