Introduction

People can get burn injuries because of many reasons. Even the most careful person can get them by accidentally spilling their hot coffee or got burns from the hot water steam coming out of their hot tubs. Whatever the causes, getting burn injuries is a painful experience. And if they are not treated properly, we might end up getting unwanted scars as souvenir from the experience. This however depends on the type of burn injuries and the ways we treat those injuries. So, in this article we will first discuss the types of burn injuries and then focus on the best ways to treat one of the types from burn injuries.

Types of burn injuries

There are several degrees of burn that may lead to different ways of treating them.

1. First degree burns

This type of burn is simply a redness with no blistering. It will never leave a scar if properly treated since no part of skin is burned away. First degree burn doesn’t require an urgent care and in most cases no doctor’s visit is necessary. Based on our own individual observation, we may call doctors or speak to a nurse in order to make sure that no follow-up is required. Some first-degree burns will start blistering in 24 hours time. This however means that the burn injuries have evolved into a second degree burn.

2. Second degree burn

This type of burn is the one that comes with both redness and blistering of the skin and is most likely the most painful type of burn. With proper treatment, second degree burns can have higher possibility of not leaving behind any scars. One main thing that we need to pay attention to regarding treating second degree burn is not to pop the blisters by ourselves. Instead, we have to let the blisters pop naturally for the burn injuries to be able to heal faster. The reason is because the blisters are actually beneficial in protecting the wounded areas from bacterial invasion that will slow down the skin recovering process. This type of burn does require an urgent visit to the doctor.

3. Third degree burn

This type of burn occurs when many layers of our skins are burned away. Generally, we wouldn’t find any blisters on third degree burns due to the missing top layers of our skins. This burn will definitely leave a scar even with the most proper treatment. It is advisable to go to the ER immediately if it seems that many layers of the skins have been burned away. We can notice this by seeing whether the burned areas have reached to the extent that there is no longer enough skin left to form a blister.

From all of the information above, we can see that when we talk about scars, we need to pay the most attention to second degree burn. Unlike the other two types of burns, second degree burn might end up with both scars or no scars. There is no certainty in it since it all depends on the way we treat the scars. That’s why, this article will focus mainly on discussing about effective methods to deal with second degree burn in order to prevent it from scarring.

Categories of second degree burns

Second degree burns can be divided into two main categories, superficial and deep. This category is based on the depth of the burn injuries.

Superficial second degree burns will recover with the help of any topical ointment or cream such as antibiotic ointment. This is possible as long as there is no infection involved. The main characteristic of superficial second degree burn is how the color of the skin might be different than the surrounding area and may take months to fade. They will typically recover by the second week.

As what it is called, deep second degree burns are deeper with almost the entire skin producing tissues has been impaired. It is this type of second degree burn that will most likely leave behind a scarring. Some professionals believe that it is best to excise the burns and then cover the damaged area with a skin graft.

So how can I Prevent Scarring from a Second Degree Burn? Read it here.