Frequently Asked Questions

By Health Care Professionals

Q. What should I use to neutralize a chemical burn?
A. Water, copious amounts of water! True there are specific agents that neutralize certain kinds of chemicals, but during a chemical crisis water is typically the most available and the easiest to remember. It is advised by the American Burn Association that all significant chemical burns be referred to a verified burn center. When you have a patient with a chemical burn, call a Burn Center for advice in regards to the specific chemical involved.

Q. Why do burn victims have to wear pressure garments?
A. To minimize hypertrophic scar formation while the involved burn areas mature. This process usually takes one year for maturation to be completed.

Q. How does a person donate skin?
A. The only skin that is available for donation for burn patients is cadaver skin. The amount of skin that would be donated from a live donor is too small to justify the cost of all of the testing that is required. Additionally, if skin were donated from a live donor, that person would be required to return in 6 months for additional testing, which is an inconvenience for most people. In some places, skin from live donors may be donated for research purposes only.

Q. Now that cultured skin is available why do you still take skin grafts from the patient?
A. The cultured skin that is available today does not produce the functional quality that can be achieved with autografts. Cultured skin also requires much more time to adhere to the tissue bed, and is considerably more expensive than autografts.

*DISCLAIMER This site is designed as an introduction to thermal injury for emergency medical technicians, medical students and physicians in training. It is not a comprehensive guide to thermal injury. As such the information may not be sufficient to address specific patient problems and these should be handled by physicians familiar with the specific clinical details pertinent to the individual patient. We invite comments from all users of this site.

*DISCLAIMER This site is designed as an introduction to thermal injury for emergency medical technicians, medical students and physicians in training. It is not a comprehensive guide to thermal injury. As such the information may not be sufficient to address specific patient problems and these should be handled by physicians familiar with the specific clinical details pertinent to the individual patient. We invite comments from all users of this site.