Well, today I dropped my first f-bomb.

[Seshat]

I know it's too late, but: burns count as an ambulance call. Especially if the skin is blistering and raw, and doubly especially if you can see underlayers of skin (or worse).

And yes, running cold water, not ice, on a burn. Unless the burn is so severe that running cold water peels off skin, in which case you definitely call an ambulance and you tell emergency that information!

The reason for the running cold water is to draw the heat out of the area before it cooks any more of the injured body part. You don't use ice because that's too much of a temperature extreme. Keep the body part under the cold water until you are absolutely certain there is no more excessive heat - my rule of thumb is 'twice as long as you expect'. It does no harm to keep it there longer, after all. (But see above: if running cold water is doing harm, it's an ambulance-and-hospital burn.)

If the skin seems to be still 'cooking' after you take it out of the water, put it back!


To modify my first sentence: not all burns are ambulance worthy. But a burn which is blistering, red and raw - or worse - is ambulance worthy. And if in doubt, call emergency and ask their opinion. Admittedly they're not triage nurses, but they're trying to use ambulances wisely.
Also, a burn which covers a sizeable area, or which is dangerously close to something important (any facial burn, for example), can be ambulance worthy.

[pitmonkey]

Can you take a pain killer, an anti-inflammatory like aleve or asprin?

[firecat88]

I've been taking Tylenol, 1000mg. That's what all three of my "doctors" (my mom- a nurse-- and my sister and awesome bro-in-law-- both PAs) told me to do. And, believe me, Seshat, I almost did call 911. Instead, I panicked and dialed my mom's work number (she works in outpatient surgery instead of at the main hospital) instead.

Also, I didn't put the ice pack directly *onto* the wound. Knowing my luck, doing that would've had the same effect as licking a frozen street lamp. I wrapped the ice pack in a dish towel first.

[tollbaby]

Mine was when I was 4 years old. And it got me in huge amounts of trouble. Thought my father was going to kill me. But it wasn't my fault...I was set up by my evil older sister! (Really I was!)

It was my first word LOL Did it teach my father not to swear around small children? Sadly, no....

[Kara]

Oh that's just painful to look at

And I don't remember my first one, I started young (thanks dad). I remember my father telling me dirty jokes when I was in first grade. I remember being in the principle's office because they didn't think the jokes were as funny as I did.

Yeah, I swear like the AVGN. Speaking of which, to celebrate, it's time to start dropping some F-Bombs.

[pitmonkey]

Tylenol is not an anti-inflammatory, it will not take the pain out of the burn like aleve or asprin.