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Burns

What are the Depth of Injuries?

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Depth of injury
First degree burns are superficial injuries that involve only the epidermis or outer layer of skin. They are the most common and the most minor of all burns. The skin is reddened and extremely painful. The burn will heal on its own without scarring within two to five days. There may be peeling of the skin and some temporary discoloration.

Second degree burns occur when the first layer of skin is burned through and the second layer, the dermal layer, is damaged but the burn does not pass through to underlying tissues. The skin appears moist and there will be deep intense pain, reddening, blisters and a mottled appearance to the skin. Second degree burns are considered minor if they involve less than 15 percent of the body surface in adults and less than 10 percent in children. When treated with reasonable care, second degree burns will heal themselves and produce very little scarring. Healing is usually complete within three weeks.

Third degree burns involve all the layers of the skin. They are referred to as full thickness burns and are the most serious of all burns. These are usually charred black and include areas that are dry and white. While a third-degree burn may be very painful, some patients feel little or no pain because the nerve endings have been destroyed. This type of burn may require skin grafting. As third degree burns heal, dense scars form.


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If you have a question about health related issues, you can now post it in our Ask An Expert section on our community website Medwonders.com and get answers from our panel of experts.
Posted by:  ganzi  Posted on: 05/27/2010
hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question but nonetheless, I hope people are generous enough to help. I was playing basketball and developed a water blister. I didn't pop/remove the outer-skin because A. I wanted to see what happens, and B. sheer laziness. However, after a day, the skin(the outer skin of the blister) turned black, and I feared they had died. So I removed them and put a band-aid over it. Did I take all the necessary precautions? If anyone has any sort of recommendations, please comment below.
BTW, I never saw blisters turning black before... it was quite alarming. Oh, and after I removed the top blackened skin, there was no bleeding or anything, just brownish residue I believe to be skin cells.




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