Don’t treat burns with toothpaste, wash and use diluted pyodine, urges expert

Assistant professor of Civil hospital explains the risks and demonstrates first-aid techniques.

KARACHI: In the five years Dr Ehmer al Ibran worked at the Burns Centre of Civil hospital, he knows almost everything that results in serious accidents.

“Do not wear loose clothes in the kitchen, keep the stove at the right length, do not leave the stove-gas connection exposed, don’t keep house-cleaning acids and chemicals near food, do not smoke in bed, do not start your generator while holding a burning candle or a match stick,” he cautioned the audience during a lecture.

The audience mostly consisted of family physicians and the assistant professor came prepared. He gave a presentation which focused on first-aid treatment and immediate response techniques for burns patients.

He gave step-by-step instructions of how to treat fire and other burns. “If more than 15 per cent of the body surface area is affected then the person needs immediate medical care,” Dr Ehmer said. With the help of two demonstrators, he showed the audience what to do if they ever catch fire.

If it ever happens, the person should roll on the ground and the people nearby should wrap the person on fire in a thick sheet of fabric.

Dr Ehmer said that the mortality rate of burns patients was around 58 per cent when he joined the institute five years ago but now it had fallen to 28 per cent. He asserted that burns patients are treated differently than people with other problems and there was a dearth of dearth burns experts.

“In Pakistan, one person gets burned every five minutes and one in every 10 patients is hospitalised,” said Dr Ehmer. “One out of every two patients, who are admitted, die.”

Sixty per cent of the total patients are usually burned by fire, 15 per cent receive electricity burns, 10 per cent get scald burns, 10 per cent get chemical burns and five per cent get friction burns.

Dr Ehmer also cleared up some misconceptions about the initial treatment of burns. “Immediately after an accident, splashing tap water on the burn helps, except in the case of an electricity burn.”

Applying toothpaste, honey, baking soda, oil, and other household remedies only soothe the burn for but have no medical value. The wounds that hurt the most are the ones which are superficial and those which do not hurt are deeper and more dangerous. According to him, the best solution is to wash the wound area with diluted Pyodine and the best way for a smooth recovery is to keep the wounds moist with ointment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2012.