Wound Care Question - Burn Advice

rokan · 10-04-2008, 11:20 PM

Ok I Have A Couple Of Small Deep Burns On My Forearm, The Oldest Is About Five Weeks And The Others Are About A Month.

They Seem To Be Healing Fine But Whenever I Have A Bath / Shower, The Scabs On Them Just Go Soft, And On The Oldest (Was Deepest) One It Comes Right Off. Leaving It Open Again.

The Burn Is Still Healing Gradually, As There Are Now A Few Millimetres Of Scar Tissue All The Way Around The Edge But This Is Obviously Slowing It Down, Not To Mention Making The Burn Stain My Shirt Or Sheets When It Is Open.

Any Ideas On How To Stop This Happening? (I Have Tried Just Keeping It Out Of Water But It Never Seems To Work).

Thanks

Animad · 10-04-2008, 11:43 PM

Have you tried using waterproof dressings (such as Opsite which you can buy in Superdrug/ some chemists is very good) whilst in the shower or burn plasters which I'm presuming are waterproof.

chocostashchick · 11-04-2008, 03:41 AM

i totally don't mean to hijack this, but how long should you leave the burn plasters or waterproof bandages on a burn? like totally until it is healed? i have a burn too right now and in the shower it goes all like that, too, and i am just wondering if it should be covered all the time or just in shower, generally?

Animad · 11-04-2008, 07:59 AM

I don't know about burns plasters at all sorry. Waterproof ones say on the packet that they can stay on for 3-7days but personally I'd change them more often than that. It really depends on the wound. If it's infected the dressing should still be changed twice a day if possible but at least daily. If not then you can leave it a bit longer. It is better to keep burns covered all ofthe time as they are very prone to infection, especially if the blisters burst which the dressing will help to prevent as they will cushion them

rokan · 11-04-2008, 11:40 AM

thanks, I will try that, I've been a bit wary of dressing it because it's low down on my arm and I don't want it to show below the sleeve, but it'll be worth wearing tops with tight cuffs for a while to get this closed over ... finally.

Quote:

i totally don't mean to hijack this,

feel free, hijacking is good

chocostashchick · 11-04-2008, 05:02 PM

oh thank you thank you! that info really helps Animad
and thank you Rokan hope you heal up wicked fast and do wear the dressing hun you need it and like you said you can wear tops with tight cuffs and nobody will see