The 4th is coming and it can sometimes come with some burns. If you get a 3rd-degree burn (exposed raw skin) of course you do need to see the Doctor. The Silvadene cream really is a great cream for helping with the pain of those bad burns.
1st and 2nd-degree burns can be supported at home. Don’t break the blister and do see a Dr. for children under 5, and if the wound starts to look infected.
My husband likes to burn himself and we have worked on many 2nd degree burns in this household. Three times on the hand! Yes that is his fingers!
Let’s Talk Burn Care
Cool water until the heat is gone from a burn is generally all that is needed however not always the easiest or most convenient to keep cool water running over a wound.
Aloe Vera Gel is an all-time favorite of everyone for helping to cool down the heat of a burn. I suggest everyone keep an aloe vera plant in their home for those little kitchen burns that can happen! You just cut the Aloe and squeeze the gel right out onto the skin. I have a gallon of aloe on hand and my husband found that just sticking his hand in a bowl of aloe helped immensely until I got home to take care of him further.
Honey: Raw Local Honey (Raw/uncooked only) is an antimicrobial that can hydrate and prevent infection. Darker fall honey tends to be more medicinal. *Do not leave on too long. The wound must have a chance to breathe. Manuka honey is found in stores and is very beneficial but expensive. It is honey from bees that pollinated the Tea Tree. So adding a bit of Tea tree EO to your honey can be less expensive. You don’t want your tissue to start looking damp and wrinkly.
Lavender essential oil: This is great for burns and supports the prevention of scarring. This would be the only time I’d suggest putting lavender essential oil directly on a wound. However, I still don’t see the need for that when you can just put it in some aloe or honey and then apply it topically. Smelling lavender can be helpful for easing the anxiety that a burn can bring.
Herbs that work as a poultice or compress to help cool and moistening to a burn or are Purslane, Plantain, Marshmallow root/leaf, Chickweed, Comfrey (not on open deep wounds). Herbs that are astringent can tighten and tone inflamed tissues, like Calendula, Yarrow, Witch Hazel.
- A Poultice is a fresh herb that is chopped up very (best with a mortar and pestle) well to where the juices of the plant start to flow and then applied topically and covered with gauze or bandaid to hold into place
- A compress is where you make a very strong tea of the above herbs. Soak a cloth or gauze in the tea and then lay on the wound and let it sit.
Change out the above dressings every 4 hours and let burn breath for 20 min before dressing if possible.
What About Salves and Burn Care?
Salves for promoting healing. After the burn has started to scab over is when I start to use salves. It keeps them from being itchy, provides antimicrobial actions, and promotes skin healing to help with scarring. Salves are especially helpful after skin grafts of more serious burns. A couple of salves a family member of mine used after skin grafts. It helped with the tightness and itchiness of the grafts. Their Dr. also noted they were healing quite well and keeping up with what they were doing.
- He used 2 different salves: Soothe For All Ingredients are Plantain, Calendula, Yarrow infused Olive Oils with Shea Butter and Beeswax. I also gave him my daughter’s salve we use for her Eczema which generally has Tallow, with infused oils of Plantain, Calendula, Chickweed, Yarrow, Gotu Kola, Comfrey, and Licorice. With one of the following Essential Oils, Lavender, Helichrysum, or Frankincense.
If your wound ever starts to look infected (starts to get puffy with red swelling around it), Spray with an Echinacea tincture every 20 min. Or apply Echinacea compresses. If it does not start to improve within 12 hours or starts getting worse and gets a red line from it go see a Doctor.
