Burn Injury Resource CenterManagement:
First aid should be administered as soon as a chemical burn has occurred.
- Remove the cause of the chemical burn.
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Chemical Burns (part II)
Articles Posted in Medical
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Chemical Burns (part I)
Chemical burns of the skin are burns that happen when strong acids or strong bases (alkalies) come in contact with the skin. Chemical burns follow the standard burn classification (first part I, II, second and third degree part I, II), most chemical burns occur on the face, eyes, arms and legs.
Clinical features:
The exact clinical features of a chemical burn depends on the type of chemical substance involved, it’s concentration, it’s physical form, duration of contact, site of contact, whether or not the skin is intact and if the substance is swallowed or inhaled. Symptoms may include:
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Electrical Burns (part II)
Treatment:
- If it is possible shut of the electrical current from its source.
- Call for medical help.
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Electrical Burns (part I)
Electrical burns are burns that happen when a person is directly exposed to an electrical current, they can cause extensive damage to internal organs.
Potential causes:
- Children poking metal object like a knife in an electrical outlet, sucking, chewing, or biting an electrical cord.
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Contractures
A contracture scar can be defined as tightening of the skin overlying the affected area. This type of scar may affect the adjacent muscles, tendons and nerves leading to limitation in the ability to move.
A contracture is a serious complication; it happens when the normal elastic connective tissue is replaced with inelastic fibrous tissue. The fibrous tissue is resistant to stretching. Depending on where the contracture scar is located, the patient may have difficulty performing normal daily activities. This may occur because the contracture can inhibit movement. For example, if the contractures restrict range of motion of a joint.
Treatment of contractures:
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Regulation Of Body Temperature
The skin plays an important role in the regulation of body temperature and protecting it from sudden temperature changes. Our body needs to be kept at an optimum operating temperature in order for our cells to perform properly. Temperature affects the rate of chemical reactions inside the body. The average body temperature is 98.6F or 37 degree centigrade. The body temperature is kept constant by physiological adjustments controlled by the hypothalamus which acts as a thermostat. The hypothalamus receives nerve impulses from the heat and cold thermoreceptors in the skin called the peripheral thermoreceptors as well as from central thermoreceptors located in the hypothalamus itself.
Our body uses energy to generate heat through the vital actions of the body. This heat production rises with muscle activity like exercise and shivering. Heat is lost and gained through radiation, conduction and conviction while evaporation contributes only to heat loss which occurs through sweating.
When someone has a fever the body thermostat will be set at a higher level, therefore the person first shivers leading to heat release which will lead to the rise of temperature to the new setting, and when the fever subsides the setting of the thermostat will drop back to normal and the person sweats to dispose the excess heat.
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Vitamin D And The Skin
Vitamin D is one of the fat soluble vitamins; it plays an important role in maintaining the normal blood levels of calcium and phosphate which are needed for normal mineralization of bone, muscle contraction, nerve conduction and proper cellular function of the body, it also plays a role in the immune modulation and evidence suggest that it has an anti-cancer properties.
The skin plays an important role in the formation of vitamin D; vitamin D can also be obtained from certain food, and supplements. When we are exposed to sun, Ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) found in the sunlight will convert cholesterol (7-dehydrocholesterol) found in the skin to Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol), Vitamin D3 will be transported to the liver where it will be converted to Calcidiol (25 D3) and this is what is tested when we measure Vitamin D level in the blood, normal level is between 80 – 175 nmol/L. Calcidiol will be carried to the kidney and will be converted there to Calcitiol (1, 25 D3) which is the active form of vitamin D; it will be released to the circulation and will be carried in the plasma to the target organs. Vitamin D toxicity doesn’t usually occur if we are exposed for a long period of time to sunlight and this is because once Vitamin D3 concentration produced in the skin reaches equilibrium, further Vitamin D3 produced will be degraded by the same Ultraviolet light that created it.
Sources of Vitamin D: 1- The main source of Vitamin D comes from the exposure of our body to sunlight (see above). 2- Food sources: like oily fish such as salmon and sardines butter, egg yolks, some food can be fortified with Vitamin D like milk and cereals. 3- Vitamin D supplements.
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Skin And Infection
One of the important functions of the skin is to protect the body against infection. The skin is the first line of defense against infection. Infection happens when harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi enter the body and replicate. The skin protects against infections through the following mechanisms:
- It acts like a covering and a barrier that prevent the entrance of harmful organisms.
- The continuous shedding of the outermost cells of the skin leading to the shedding of these organisms with them. Some bacteria live on our skin but can’t enter the skin as long as it is healthy. An adult sheds more than 40,000 skin cells a minute.
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The Skin (Part II)
The Dermis:
This is the second layer of the skin under the epidermis, it cushions the body from stress and strain, this layer contains nerve endings, sebaceous glands, sweat glands, hair follicles and blood and lymphatic vessels.
The nerve endings in our dermis tell us how things feel when we touch them; they work with our brain and nervous system so that the brain gets the message about what we are touching. The dermis is also full of tiny blood vessels that keep the skin cells healthy by bringing them oxygen and nutrients they need and by taking away waste. The sebaceous glands secrete sebum which is an oily matter that keeps the skin lubricated and water proof, these glands are present throughout the skin except the hands and feet; they are in greatest abundance on the face and scalp. The sweat glands help in the regulation of body temperature by releasing sweat through pores on the skin. The hair follicle grows hair and attached to it is the sebaceous gland; about 50-100 hairs are shed daily from a normal scalp.
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The Skin (Part I)
The skin is the largest organ in the body that has many important functions which include the following:
- It protects the body from infection by preventing the invasion of harmful organisms.
- It protects the body from dehydration by preventing the loss of excessive fluids.