Burn Treatment

First of all it is necessary to draw attention to this important points:
 

• Burn treatment means taking care of an acute burn injury. Main purpose of this treatment is maintaining the wound epithelialization as soon as possible. Minor burns may heal spontaneously, on the other hand major burns might be life threatening and require extensive care. The treatment of major burns must be done in hospitals and preferably in burn units. Major burns must be treated by Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons or sometimes by General Surgeons.
   

• After healing of acute burn injury, scar tissues occur in the burned areas. The intensity of scars depends on the depth of the burn wound and may be minimal or very extensive. Once the scars occur, they stay for a lifetime. The treatment of burn scars is completely different from acute burn injuries and their treatments should only be done by Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.
   

The color and shape of the burn scars show differences according to the depth and intensity of burn injury. Deep burns result in tightness of the skin and surrounding tissues with some shortening.

This condition is called “contracture” in medical language. Other types of scars commonly seen after deep burns are hypertrophic (elevated from the surface), dark colored (red or brown), and itchy scars.

Minor burns may heal with less visible scars. Their scars are usually at the same level of the skin and have mild dark or white color.



Even if only the skin is involved, burns that have affected a significant thickness, always heal with a somewhat visible scar. In other words, even if the most appropriate treatment is applied to a deep burn, almost always a scar will occur with various severity.

Superficial burns usually are not expected to leave scars. On the other hand, if the wound is treated inappropriately even superficial burns may heal with scars.

Deep burn injuries which affect all layers of the skin and deeper layers like the subcutaneous area and muscles are almost always prone to the heavy scars and deformities and they usually will not heal without surgical treatment.

Every operation may create some degree of scarring. It is worth emphasizing again that such burn scars can only be treated by Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.

If the burn scars are mild, they do not affect the body functions negatively. But they may result in a disturbing appearance. This creates psychological problems that cannot be underestimated.

On the other hand, severe burn scars may cause serious functional problems. For example, they impair the function of the joints, prevent the movements of fingers, hands, arms, and legs, and in the groin area causes difficulties of urination, defecation and sexual activities.

So it creates some kind of disability. It impairs the eyelids and causes visual difficulties. It impairs mouth and lip functions, resulting in uncomfortable eating.

It causes abnormal development of growing bones in children due to tension and severe body image disorders.

Based on the aforementioned facts, it should not be surprising that treating burn scars (and disabilities caused by them) is still considered difficult and, in some cases, impossible.