Beverly Care Support

Burns- any injury involving the skin, including muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels. This results from heat, chemical, electrical or solar or other forms of radiation.

Common Cause:
1. Carelessness with the matches and cigarette smoking.
2. Scald from hot liquid.
3. Defective heating, cooking and electrical equipment.
4. Immersion in overheated bath water.
5. Use of such chemicals, as lye, strong acids and strong detergents.

Factors to Determine the Seriousness of Thermal Burns:
1. The depth, the deeper the burn, the more severe it is. Three depth classifications are used:
superficial, First degree, sunburn
Partial thickness, second degree burns
Full thickness, third degree burns
2. The extent to the affected body surface are. This means estimating how much body surface area are burn covers.
3. Location of the burns. Burns on the face, hands, feet and genitals are more severe than on other body parts.
4. Victim's age and medical condition. Determine it other injuries or pre-existing medical problems exist or if the victims is elderly ( over 55) or young(under 5)