The difference between scald and burn

Many people simply cannot tell the difference between scalds and burns. In fact, the difference between these two situations is quite large. Usually burns are more serious than scalds, and scalds can damage the deeper parts of your skin, which will make treatment more difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to treat it in time. In addition, blisters will not appear after a burn, but blisters will appear after a scald.

The severity of burns depends on the extent and depth of injured tissue. The depth of burns can be divided into first degree, second degree and third degree.

First-degree burns are the least damaging. Burned skin is red, painful, obviously tender, and has exudate or edema. The injured area turns white locally when light pressure is applied, but there are no blisters.

Second-degree burns are deeper. Skin blisters. The base of the blister is red or white and is filled with clear, sticky fluid. It is tender and sensitive to touch and turns white when pressed.

Third-degree burns are the deepest. The burn surface may be whitish and soft or black and charred and leathery. Because burned skin becomes pale, it is often mistaken for normal skin in fair-skinned people, but it no longer changes color when pressed. The destroyed red blood cells can make the skin in the burned area bright red, occasionally with blisters. The hair in the burned area is easily pulled out, and sensation is reduced. There is generally no pain in the area of ​​a third-degree burn. Because the nerve endings in the skin are damaged.

It often takes several days after a burn to distinguish between deep second-degree and third-degree burns.

Severe burns: can affect organs and tissues throughout the body, resulting in a series of pathological and physiological processes, such as water-salt-electrolyte imbalance, acid-base imbalance, shock, DIC, immune imbalance, secondary infection, heart failure, respiratory failure, etc. In particular, impaired respiratory function is one of the important causes of death.

1. Shock: In the early stage, it is mostly hypovolemic shock. If infection ensues, septic shock may occur. Severe burns may cause immediate shock due to the intense injury stimulation.

2. Sepsis: Burns cause defects in the skin's barrier function against bacteria; more serious patients also have weakened white blood cell function and immune function. Therefore, infection is prone to occur. The pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that commonly exist on the skin (such as Staphylococcus aureus, etc.) or bacteria that are exogenously contaminated (such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, etc.). Purulent infection may occur on the wound surface and under the eschar. The infection may also develop into sepsis and septic shock. In addition, fungal infections may occur after the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, especially in patients with systemic debilitation.