What to do if your skin is corroded by strong alkali

Skin is a person's appearance and sensory image. Everyone wants to have delicate, fair and smooth skin, but sometimes it is inevitable to encounter various difficulties and cause skin problems. People who are often exposed to chemical substances, such as strong alkali or strong acid, may accidentally touch their skin. These chemicals are highly corrosive. If they are not handled in time, they can easily damage the skin. So what should we do?

1 First rinse with plenty of tap water, then rinse with a saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate for acid corrosion, rinse with a 1% citric acid or boric acid solution for alkali corrosion, then rinse with clean water and apply vaseline.

2 If the wound is corroded by hydrofluoric acid, rinse with water and then with a dilute soda solution, then soak in an ice-cold saturated magnesium sulfate solution for half an hour, and finally apply an ointment made of 20% magnesium sulfate, 18% glycerin, 1.2% procaine hydrochloride and water.

3 If acid or alkali solution splashes into the eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water, then rinse with dilute sodium bicarbonate solution or saturated boric acid solution, and finally add castor oil.

First, let's talk about concentrated sulfuric acid. Concentrated sulfuric acid is one of the most corrosive! The reason is that it is highly acidic and corrosive. It has a strong dehydrating property, and after absorbing water, it has a strong heat release property. The heat released by concentrated sulfuric acid can boil water instantly!!! So when the skin comes into contact with concentrated sulfuric acid, it will break through the most fragile pores, corrode, dehydrate and release a lot of heat!! A lot of heat will destroy all the skin around it, and finally lead to a chain reaction, and all the skin layers will disintegrate, so it is very, very scary!

Next is concentrated nitric acid. Concentrated nitric acid is also the most corrosive. Its corrosiveness comes from its strong acid corrosion and its oxidation reaction. This process will create many unstable free radicals, which attack any structure inside and outside the cells. In addition, the acidic properties will damage the skin. Such strong oxidation properties will cause the entire layer of skin to necrotize and fall off. However, the lethality of nitric acid is lower than that of concentrated sulfuric acid because it does not have dehydrating and exothermic properties!

Next is hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid is often used to clean yellow or black dirt in toilets. It is cheap and effective! Some hydrochloric acids have the characteristic of "smoking". Hydrochloric acid has a strong pungent smell, so you must wear rubber gloves and masks when using it. However, compared with sulfuric acid and nitric acid, it is less harmful to the skin. In addition to its acidic properties, hydrochloric acid has no dehydration and oxidation reactions, nor does it have a strong exothermic reaction. Therefore, the skin's resistance to hydrochloric acid is relatively good! If arranged according to the concentration of acid and alkali, the acidity and alkalinity of concentrated sulfuric acid is about PH:1, nitric acid is about PH:2, and hydrochloric acid falls at PH:2-3. Is there a representative of strong alkali? Let's take sodium hydroxide with a PH:15 as an example!

The characteristics of sodium hydroxide are that it is corrosive, but it does not have dehydration, heat release, or oxidation properties. If alkaline substances come into contact with the skin, they will cause the sebum and stratum corneum on the surface of the skin to dissolve. For example, when we use weak alkaline soap for general cleaning, our skin will feel astringent and dry after cleaning our bodies. High concentrations of sodium hydroxide can easily break through the skin's defenses within seconds! It will also damage the deep layers of the skin. The severity of this is not so easy!

Having said so much, what should we do when we encounter strong acids and alkalis? If you come into contact with a large amount of concentrated sulfuric acid, you should first wipe your skin dry with a cloth, then rinse with plenty of water, otherwise there may be a possibility of secondary burns!! However, if you come into contact with a small amount of concentrated sulfuric acid and other acidic and alkaline substances, the treatment method is as follows. The first method is to quickly rinse with plenty of water. If the person who comes into contact is wearing clothes, the injured part must be removed and further soaked in cold water to relieve pain and stabilize emotions. Then cover the injured part with a clean cloth or gauze, and notify 119 to send to the doctor for treatment as soon as possible! Do you understand this?