Flame Burns
I discussed Burns in the past issues but I would like to review on flame burns.
Burns in children are not uncommon and mostly form part of the overall problem of accidental injuries of children.
Take this case for example. A12 year old female child has superficial to deep partial thickness burns 25% of her total body surface area secondary to flame injury. What happened? The mother was cooking using a firewood and since the fire was not good, she poured gas over it and it caused spark of flame going to the gas container on the mother’s hand and she accidentally threw the container at her side hitting her daughter.
Flame burns may be due to gasoline, kerosene, LPG , burning houses or buildings and other varied sources.
The depth of burns is classified as:
- First degree when only the superficial layer of the epidermis is damaged causing erythema or redness of the skin. The best example of this is sunburn.
- In second degree burn, there is tissue destruction in the epidermis and varying layers of the dermis. One can see blisters, a moist red surface and there is pain.
- In the third degree burn, there is full thickness destruction of the skin. No epithelial remnants, hair follicles, sweat and sebaceous glands left behind. Clinically, the third degree burn is dry, hard to leathery, inelastic, whitish or charred with visible thrombosed veins. Third degree burn is painless because even the nerve endings are destroyed.
Going back to our 12 year-old female patient, the harm could have been prevented only if the mother were careful in handling materials that could cause fire.