I was reading about some burn victims from summer fires in Greece, and some succumbed to their burns more than 3 months after they were originally exposed to the flames. Shouldn’t they be in the clear at that point given burn wounds heal over time?
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Burn icu nurse-
Think of the skin as being the largest organ in your body. Damage to the largest organ will inevitably have an impact on other organs. The first organs that start to go are the kidneys. Think of how your skin retains moisture in your body. It keeps the water in your blood. Your blood becomes thicker now without as much water in it. Your kidneys filters your blood. Your heart pumps your blood. Now you have nothing to keep that water in . Your thickened blood is more susceptible to clot. Cause a stroke or a clot in your lung. We try to keep blood flowing to all our organs to deliver oxygen to them. We divert this blood to the most important areas- our brain, our heart. Everything works harder in your body. Your lungs work harder to put oxygen in the blood. Your gut doesn’t get enough blood flow, and not enough oxygen. The tissue starts to die. It starts to breakdown with your stool in it and spread infection inside your body. And of course the obvious answer that’s mentioned above is the large amount of open skin is highly susceptible to infection.
I would assume infections as others have said. But, I would also assume damage to the lungs. Not only that but, someone correct me if I am wrong. Your body trying to heal itself, while also fighting off infections could over work your heart, kidneys, and liver. Among the other organs and, your body starts to shut down.
I know some guys who were PJ’s ( Pararescue) and some MEdics that referred to the golden hour. It’s something about the time from when you receive the injury to when you receive medical attention for survivability.
Though, you could consult a Doctor. Because, all of this is just pure assumptions on my part.
its like when u open a bag of oreos, u peel off that top layer and put it back on but it’s never completely right and the stuff inside will go bad faster
My dad was was severely burned (3rd degree, 87% of body) and lived 7 wks before organs started failing.
It was a long shot, but the Dr’s thought it within reason to pursue treatment. He started off responding well to treatment, but I think he was just too old to make it through. He was 58.
As a burn victim myself I have been wondering how the mental state effects the healing process. Heard some stories from my burn-nurses of people worsening because of the negative mental state they were in.
In my case (5-10% 2nd/3rd degree) it was not a question if i were to make it, but nevertheless I’ve suicidal thoughts because of the pain, which also had a clear effect on my healing process..
Anyone who knows more on this? I’ve been wanting to know for quiet a while
In a simple sense, if you have an apple, and you cut it in half, the exposed area will become “brown” after a while. A normal cut on the apple will turn a small part of it brown, and you can just cut it off. However if you peel a large amount of the apples skin, suddenly you get large brown parts, maybe even some ants and flies found the apple and will start eating it.
In a more in-depth explanation, burn wounds have a couple of problems that can kill. One of the most dangerous parts is infections, which can take a lot of time. When talking about burn victims, you are talking about someone that got burned on a large % of his body. When burned your body will lose its outside layer of protection, the skin in a large surface area(think of when you lightly burn your finger, and later the skin falls off), this makes you very susceptible to infections, since you don’t have the outside layer of skin to protect you, so any “dirt” in the air can infect you. In addition to that the body loses a lot of its ability to fight infections, such as sweating to control body heat, and is weak from fighting the large wound, and will usually be dehydrated(another dangerous part of large burn wounds). Now skin takes a lot of time to heal, especially such a large amount, and in addition to that, once you have infections it can make the process problematic, and longer. Hospitals will try to fight the infection any way they know how to, and that way victims can sometimes take months until they die, or in a better outcome, beat the infection and survive.
Infections are one of the leading causes of death for burn victims after they initially survive being burned as your chances of getting one increase dramatically.
A cut is layers, the body just has to heal layers where the cut is. A burn is surface area. This area demands moisture, carbs for healing and is extremely painful as the nerves try to reintegrate into the damaged tissue.
The severity of the burn can mean skin damage, such as a sun burn. Lower dermis damage, such as a hot stovetop or higher flame heat. Then there are burns from structure fires that can cause muscle and tissue damage.
People with extensive burns need to have the area cleaned, which is called debrying, basically the burn needs to have any charred skin or things such as clothing or plastic removed from the burn area. They cannot desensitize the area while doing this. This can send a person into shock and cause problems.
Lastly, the burn areas need to be covered, as these areas become moist with plasma that is attempting to cool the area and promote healing. This moisture also becomes a breading ground for bacteria. Infection is the thing that doctors strive to prevent.
I might of missed it, but being a past fire fighter, damage to the lungs on breathing in burning chemicals, particals and such, do not not only have an imediate effect, but long lasting including death in some cases.
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