First aid topic · Injuries & everyday care

Burns and scalds

Also known as: scald, thermal burn, chemical burn, sunburn, cooling a burn

Heat keeps damaging skin for minutes after the source is removed, so cooling with running water is the treatment that changes outcomes. The depth and area of a burn decide what happens next: superficial burns heal in a week, deep ones need grafts, and large burns lose fluid fast enough to cause shock.

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Recognise it

  • Superficial: red, painful, dry, like sunburn
  • Partial thickness: blisters, weeping, very painful, red or mottled
  • Full thickness: white, leathery or charred, may be painless because nerve endings are destroyed
  • Size: the person's palm is about 1% of their body surface

What to do

  1. Stop the burningRemove the person from the heat. Put out flames: stop, drop and roll, or smother with a blanket. For chemicals, brush off powder and flood with water; for electrical burns, switch off the supply first.
  2. Cool with running water for 20 minutesCool tap water (not ice) over the burn as soon as possible, and still worthwhile within 3 hours of the injury. Keep the rest of the person warm to avoid hypothermia, especially children.
  3. Remove clothing and jewelleryTake off anything near the burn before swelling starts, unless it is stuck to the skin.
  4. Cover looselyAfter cooling, cover with cling film laid on (not wrapped around) or a clean, non-fluffy cloth or plastic bag for a hand or foot. This reduces pain and infection risk.
  5. Relieve pain and seek assessmentParacetamol or ibuprofen. Sit upright for facial burns and burns from inhaled smoke.

Do not

  • Do not use ice, butter, toothpaste, creams or oils
  • Do not burst blisters
  • Do not remove stuck clothing
  • Do not use adhesive dressings or fluffy material on the burn

Get medical help when

  • All chemical and electrical burns
  • Burns larger than the person's hand, deep burns, or any burn to the face, hands, feet, genitals or across a joint
  • Burns with breathing difficulty, soot around the nose or mouth, or from an enclosed fire
  • Burns in children under 5, the elderly, pregnant women, or anyone with signs of shock

Why it works: the anatomy

Skin is the barrier against fluid loss and infection, and its dermis holds the nerve endings and the sweat glands and hair follicles from which new skin regrows. Cooling draws heat out of the tissue and halts the zone of ongoing damage around the burn; a burn that destroys the dermis cannot regrow skin from within and must be grafted. Large burns leak plasma into the tissue, causing hypovolaemic shock over hours.

Educational content. Written to follow current resuscitation and first-aid guidance, but no page replaces a certified first-aid course. When in doubt, call emergency services.