Best first aid for burns is clean, cold water

PLASTIC surgeons who deal with bad burns say that the best first aid for a burn is clean, running water. Home remedies of butter or cooking oil or using special sprays, aloe vera creams can in some instances make the burn worse, according to the Irish Association of Plastic Surgery. The simplest, cleanest, easiest and cheapest way of dealing with a burn, assuming it is not extensive and needs hospitalisation, is to run the burn under running cold water for up to ten minutes. This has the effect of drawing the heat out - away from the flesh, and this can have a dramatic beneficial effect on lessening the impact of a burn. In the case of burns in places that cannot be easily placed under a running tap the burn area should be placed under a cold shower for at least ten minutes. People should then see their family doctor or attend at an Emergency Department immediately. Surgeons stress that a bad burn can have life-changing consequences. In a severe case where a skin graft is needed, the consultant surgeon needs to take skin from one part of the patient's body and graft it on to the burn. If a patient has 60 per cent degree burns then they only have 40 per cent of their skin left from which grafts can be taken and therefore there won't be enough skin to graft. There are up 15 of these extreme cases each year in Ireland, which require the use of artificial skin. The artificial skin is made from shark and bovine collagen and is extremely expensive to buy; an A5 size sheet costs €2,000.