In a blog post on April 26, we wrote about young kids from other countries who were getting life-altering surgery here in the United States to save them from a life of pain and disfigurement from severe burns. Well, here is another such example, which is good news for a…
Articles Posted in Medical
Carelessness With Fire That Can Cause Third-Degree Burns
In a town called Granby in upstate New York, a man was seriously burned last week when he simply placed meat carelessly into a hot pan. Granby Center Fire Chief Donald LaBarge said the man was cooking inside his mobile home when he tossed more meat into the pan. Flames…
Overlooked Fire Hazards in the Home Can Be Deadly
Here are two stories from this past week that should provide lessons about paying close attention to anything around the home that can cause a fire, or which can make your escape from a fire more difficult First: On April 20, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered the recall of…
Burn Survivor Stories: Children Getting Another Chance at Life
This month, a young Iraqi boy disfigured by a car bomb in Iraq came to Long Island, NY for surgery that could give him a chance at a normal life. Zeenabdeen Hadi, now four years old, was barely a year old when the blast burned part of his face down…
Severe Burns and Smoke Inhalation From Sources You Can’t Control
The CBS television station in Keller, Texas reported last week on this story of severe burns on one family’s child and several other children, all of whom are in a special-needs class at their school: Nicholas Chaney’s parents trusted that he’s taken care of at school just like he is…
Measuring Severe Burn Rates for Surfaces Found at Home and Work
An interesting, though very academic, paper was published recently about the ways that investigators can measure how quickly skin can receive painful second-degree burns as well as far more damaging third-degree burns from coming in contact different surfaces. At the top of the list of fast skin-burning surfaces was aluminum,…
A Terrible Story That Offers Lessons in Fire Safety
In addition to the tragic shopping-mall and nightclub fires I detailed in my last blog entry on April 11, this next story should be a lesson to anyone about thinking of fire safety wherever you are. When at home, you simply must check all possible means of escape on a…
Practicing Fire Safety in Public Places
On Sunday, a fire broke out in a three-building shopping mall in the downtown area of Xining City in northwest China. According to media reports there one woman died, while another 12 were rescued and treated in the hospital for injuries mainly caused by smoke inhalation. The local media also…
Necrotizing Fasciitis and Third Degree Burns (Part II)
Risk factors for Necrotizing fasciitis: Trauma to the skin (minor or major). Burns Immunosuppression and imunosuppressive drugs such as prednisolone. Diabetes. chronic diseases such as chronic renal failue. Malignancies. Alcoholism and intravenous drug misuse. Obesity. Peripheral vascular disease. malnutrition. Age over 60 years. Varicella. Clinical features: There are local and…
A Hot Debate About Fire Sprinklers in Homes and Condos
An article written for the Associated Press this past week covered a topic that every head of a household should know something about: A regulation calling for homes built after January 1, 2011 to install fire sprinklers. This rule in some areas has ignited a fight around the country between…