Cooking Burns and Scars

[Comfort Me]

Last night I made a mistake. I let the wok get super hot while I chopped garlic I had forgotten to do before putting the wok on the heat. I added the oil, grabbed the bowl of prepped onions from the counter, and tipped them in, using my free (right) hand to coax them out of the bowl. Oil (at about 400 degrees) splashed up and got me good on a part of my hand that has never been burnt before.

Now I've been burned 100 times before, and I find it generally more of an irritant than anything else. Maybe it's just the combination of really hot oil on really tender flesh, but this puppy hurt. I put ice on it, which eased the pain, but the minute I took the ice off, the pain was back. I've never kept ice on anything for more than 10 minutes in my life -- I generally find icing something to be really uncomfortable. But I kept this bad boy on ice for the next 5 hours -- and then went to bed with it resting on a fresh cold pack. The burn spray with pain releaver didn't do bubkus, neither did the triple antibiotic ointment with pain releaver.

What do you guys use on burns?

Edited November 24, 2003 by Comfort Me (log)

[SethG]

Sounds like you need a doctor.

[Squeat Mungry]

I burned myself last night, too! On the rack of the toaster oven as I was clumsily removing a roasting pan.

I've heard that the best thing is to get it under running cold water immediately. Like within 3-4 seconds for greatest effect. I find, however, that I usually spend at least the first 15 seconds trying to treat the burn with a continuous stream of obscenities.

I'm sorry you hurt yourself. Hope it's feeling better.

Squeat

(Edited for grammar.)

Edited November 24, 2003 by Squeat Mungry (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

I'd suggest a doctor as well. The ice/water immediately following a burn is to cool the surface and prevent further damage from the heat. If it is a large burn (bigger than a quarter, for instance) ice alone may not help the pain.

I had a soldering iron jump at me once (I was fixing something, and when I grabbed a part, I hit the cord, causing the iron to hit the inside of my forearm. Luckily, I had volunteered to help sell cold drinks for a local festival. I spent the next 3 days elbow deep in ice water, so that helps.

Doctor. ASAP. Even if it's just for him/her to write a scrip for a few painkillers to get some sleep at night, and some sort of salve which may actually help.

You still reading this? Why aren't you at the doctor's office yet?

Seriously.

edited to reflect that doctors can be female too...

Edited November 24, 2003 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[Cusina]

Don't forget ibuprofin.

I did a number on the top of my middle finger a few weeks back (steam burn from carrots). Blistered, 2nd degree, but not 3rd thankfully and it sounded a lot like yours. The worst part was knowing that I did it out of pure stupidity. The pain is actually a good thing, I was told, it means you haven't completely destroyed the nerve endings. Still no fun. Mine hurt like hell for about 2 days. It did heal completely though after a few weeks of ugly looking peeling. Just keep it from getting infected.

[tryska]

aloe vera.

fresh aloes are best, but jason's witch vera is one of my medicine cabinet standbys - man it heals skin quickly.

however - this advice goes out the window if you are blistering. applies to 1st degree and small 2nd degree burns only.

[Comfort Me]

Geaux, Squeet, & Seth:

Thanks. I'm feeling much better today -- it just hurts when I write. I really wanted to know what remedies people who get burned more often than I use when they get a nasty one.

My wife is looking over my shoulder right now saying "Anthony Bourdain isn't going to stop a meal in the middle of a live snake to go to the emergency room with a burn." I think she's right, though I'm slightly disturbed by her story of Bourdain eating a live snake. Ick. Of course, Bourdain is so macho, I imagine he calls people around to watch it blister, then has a bottle of vodka and feels no pain!

Anyway -- are there any HOME remedies which have been successful?

[cheftoad]

You have to go to the doctor at least once to get a prescription for SSD - Silver Sulfadiazine Cream. Dab some on, put a cold press on it and your owwie will feel better in no time. I let my doctor know I cook for a living and he was more than happy to prescribe some for me without having an actual burn at the moment.

Don't let anyone talk you into trying to put butter on it - it will get worse. I've also heard tomatoes but had little luck with that.

[tryska]

aloe vera gel.

[FistFullaRoux]

As far as home remedies for something that has happened more than a few minutes ago (I really ought to read these posts better), Aloe vera, as suggested by tryska is a fine salve for minor burns. The operative term being minor. If there is any peeling or scabbing, you really should at least have a doctor look at it. If you are talking about a red spot or a small intact blister, pretty much whatever feels good is OK.

Of course you know that oil based things are out, right? No butter. It's good for a lot of things, this not being one of them.

I used to work as a physical therapy tech, and we did a lot of work with burn patients. I won't go into graphic detail, but suffice it to say, I am paraniod at crawfish boils now. But we would wash the area with Betadine (available at drug stores) using gauze pads with lots of water (the shower should work) and cover with colloidal silver salve. Be careful with the silver salve, as it can stain the skin light blue if used for an extended period of time (like weeks and months).

Cover loosely with gauze, apply a cream/salve/lotion that will eliminate contact with the air, keep it dry and clean. Visit a doctor for any increased swelling, opaque drainage (I know, ew), fever or other sign of infection. OTC analgesics for pain. And are you up to date on your tetanus shots?

[fifi]

I keep an aloe vera plant around for little owies. You split the leaf open and smush the gel out with your thumb or finger. Fresh sloe and a cold compress do wonders. I don't trust the commercial preparations. They are putting aloe in EVERYTHING these days and it is being prepared on a huge scale. So who knows if the stuff you can buy is any good, read... fresh and effective.

Anything more that a smallish 1st degree... go to the doctor.

[tryska]

I keep an aloe vera plant around for little owies. You split the leaf open and smush the gel out with your thumb or finger. Fresh sloe and a cold compress do wonders. I don't trust the commercial preparations. They are putting aloe in EVERYTHING these days and it is being prepared on a huge scale. So who knows if the stuff you can buy is any good, read... fresh and effective.

Anything more that a smallish 1st degree... go to the doctor.

i agree - even most of the gels you see at the drugstore are full of all kinds of stuff and not aloe.

as i alluded to above, if you don't have a plant, jason's Witch Vera (it's witch hazel + aloe) is an excellent fairly pure product.

i use it on everything from cuts and wounds to minor burns. scabs up and peels off within a couple of days, msot of the time.

[GG Mora]

I once burned the crap out of my hand with spattered lamb fat, right on the side of the fleshy part of my thumb. Hurt like a bitch, turned bright red in a flash. It was right before service, too. We kept a bottle of 99% aloe gel in the walk-in for just such an occasion. I poured a small ramekin and kept it with my mise for the night. Put some on the burn, and every time it started to dry, I applied some more. The burn never blistered, and in 2 weeks' time there was no sign of it. I wish I'd been as concientious with other burns.

A Mexican friend told me to try peeling out the thin membrane from between two layers of onion and placing it over the burn like a second skin. All it did was sting like fury.

[fifi]

Speaking of second skin. Has anyone tried those new "spray on" bandages? I wonder how that would work, after you have treated it. It might be a thought, especially if you have to keep working.

[denise_jer]

I have to agree with the aloe. If it isn't too bad a burn, of course. I had a giant plant that came out of no where! I thought it was just going to be one of those little ones that spread all over the pot, but this one ended up being monstrous. But it somehow spawned some little spreading ones a few years later, so to give them a chance, I harvested the leaves (seriously, they were almost as long as my arm!), and now just keep them in a jar in the kitchen, not too far from the stove. It's nice to just reach over an break off a piece.

[tryska]

Speaking of second skin. Has anyone tried those new "spray on" bandages? I wonder how that would work, after you have treated it. It might be a thought, especially if you have to keep working.

i tried an analog to them way way back when my uncle was in the military and it was high-tech equipment.

they work well for keeping wounds clean, but i'm not a big fan of bandages, and bandaids and second skin things, simply because if i take care of a wound, i scar. if i clean it well, and let the air take care of it, i don't.

of course i've never tried it with a sucking chest wound or anything......

[Al_Dente]

When I first got an oven safe saute pan (all clad), I seared a steak and finished it the oven. I let it rest, once done, on the stove top. A couple of minutes later, being used to picking up a saute pan with my bare hand, I grabbed that 400 degree metal handle.

The resulting blister took up about 3/4 of the surface of the palm of my hand and a few bits of finger joint here and there. Tears came to my eyes-- and I'm one macho MoFo, ask anyone (being fascetious here). Anyway, I just used a bunch of neosporin, wrapped my hand in guaze, and was okay in about 3 days. Excessive wine drinking helped me sleep through the night it happened. No scarring or anything. I probably should have gone to a doc, but I managed.

It was an excellent steak-- NY Strip, USDA Prime. It was medium rare, my hand was still rare.

[bloviatrix]

I'm seconding the suggestion for aloe as it works great on burns. Tylenol will help deaden the pain. But vodka works wonders as well.

Feel better.

[Suzanne F]

When I worked saute, I had oil splash back on me when I rushed to slide a piece of fish in the pan. I've had caramel drip from the paper cone onto my arm. What did I do then? Just run cold water on it or clamp ice to it ASAP; then cover it when it blistered, keep it clean, and leave it alone. (so I'm one macho broad, what can I say? ) I never burned a big enough patch to worry about it.

At home, of course I've done the "grab the handle just out of the oven" bit. Again, cold water (I don't usually keep ice in my freezer). A few hours of pain is nothing against a whole lifetime.

But the suggestion of Silver Sulfadiazine Cream is good; my doctor gave me some when she learned what I did for a living. To be honest, I rarely used it, but passed it along to co-workers who were grateful for it.

[Squeat Mungry]

A good friend of mine was working the line, and somehow when in the weeds and grabbing a pan in a hurry from under the salamander managed to dump the contents (which, for still unexplained reasons, was nothing but boiling oil) directly onto her face! (This is a stunningly beautiful young woman, by the way.) The right side of her face instantly became a hideous red blister. Get this: she applied an ice-filled rag for like two minutes, then rushed back to the line to help drag her coworkers out of the weeds!

Her face was gruesome and painful to look at for about two weeks, her right eye swollen completely shut. (I think she finally applied some aloe after the shift). A month later she was miraculously back to looking like a fashion model.

She never once complained about it, saying it was all in a days work.

Brave girl.

Squeat

[newguy]

Silver Sulfadiazine or Silvadene is the best stuff on the planet. I had a 2nd degree burn on my right hand after slipping on some steps with a stockpot in my hand. Fat managed to jump out and land right on my hand. Silvadene on it, with in one day, felt great. I was back to work the next day. I've given this stuff out to probably 5 people at work now, it's a community bottle.

[KarenS]

silverdene.

Keep

your

burn

very

clean

and

dry.

Aloe

helps

prevent

scarring.

Keep

theburn

bandaged

with

silverdene

until

it

is

healing

well.

Burns

can

get

infected

very

easily.

I

have

25

years

of

burn

experience.

Sometimes

ice

is

not

enough!

(or

aloe

vera)

I

feel

your

pain.

I

once

had

to

go

to

the

hospital

every

day

to

have

my

bandage

changed

(clarified

butter)

[monkeymay]

Wow, your reply is like a poem. 'Ode to a burn' perhaps?

I second the silvedene and definitely the aloe vera. Huge water blisters from a vat of molten polenta that dropped because of a loose pot handle. Silverdene initially, then fresh aloe from leaves sliced right from the plant. Totally minimized scaring and discoloration, especially the burns along my eye underneath the brow. Vicodin also helps tremendously - but then when doesn't it?

[Line Cook]

It's always a good idea in the professional kitchen to have some chilled aloe leaves. I have a massive aloe plant in the yard and keep a branch of the stuff in the walk-in at all times. A good application of that cold jelly works wonders. Those instant cold-packs are nice to have around too.

Recently a fellow worker got burned while squeazing a magic line pastry bag over-filled with piping hot and poorly whipped mashed potatoes. He tried to squeeze out the chunk that was clogging the tip and the bag split, shooting the hot mash into his face.

I've been cooking for years and burn myself all the time. Those oil splatters are the worst. But I've also developed some kind of skill that allows me to touch and handle extremely hot items with my finger tips and hands without getting burned.

[KateW]

Burns always used to bother me more than they do now. I would yelp and cry when they happened and be incapacitated and pouty for at least the rest of the day. Now, I say, "Ow! (expletive)" and move on. Cuts are a little more traumatic for me. I'll never forget cutting myself in garde manger and the chef told me to stick my finger in a cup of white pepper, and I thought he was kidding until he came towards me with the cup...I thought it would hurt, but it didn't.

What bugs me is when I get a burn that didn't seem that bad but still leaves a red mark. I have a few that have been around for a few months, are they scars or just hanging on for a long time? I can't see the one I got when I was 16 anymore, but I saw that one for a good long time.

Anyway, I usually just stick burns under cold water immediately and hold it against something cold off and on to relieve the stinging. That's about it.