So I burned myself (actually scalded I suppose) with hot oil on Sunday night, a slightly less-than-careful pan handling left a 1" square area of the top of my thumb covered in smoking oil. Did the usual, dunked it under a cold running tap for as long as I could bear, then covered in a bag of cold water for about 10 mins more. Very painful (except the middle which is numb now, presumably dead nerve endings). It swelled up like a balloon (1/2 inch high blister!!) which later burst. Now I have a mildly skanky looking pocket of dead skin over a very sensitive ring of flesh with a numb centre.

Worthy of medical attention or just keep it covered/infection free and await healing? My initial thought is to just keep it covered, others have suggested it's big enough to need checking out. I can't see what else a doc would do other than dress it like I am.

very sensitive ring of flesh with a numb centre

Not sure about whether it's worthy of medical attention, but that phrase was worthy of a snigger 🙂

Especially when the font on my screen makes Burn look the same as Bum

😀 leave my sensitive ring out of this!

Decent dressing will improve speed of healing and reduce scarring. However Drs are not too much good at dressings and its a bit late now. Ask your surgery for an appointment with the practise nurse or district nurse – or go to the local nurse led minor injuries clinic

I'm currently using melolin pads and micropore tape to cover it, replacing them every 8 hours or so, is a nurse going to do much more than that? Do they have fancy creams? I'm not too worried about scarring, I have hands like a brickie anyway, so long as I don't end up with infections or lose a thumb!

I had a bad scald on the back of my hand with was about 2" long. After the blister burst, I picked away the dead skin and used germolene on it, then when the skin started to tighten I used lashings of E45.

All that advise came from a pharmasist, not a doctor, but it worked ok for me. No infection and the E45 really helped reduce the scarring.

<just refer to my St John's manual>

For a healthy adult….

Any partial thickness burn covering an area of approx hand size or more; or any full thickness burn requires prompt medical attention.

Partial thickness: skin looks raw and blisters will form
Full thickness: all layers are burned and damage may extend beyond the skin to nerves, muscle and fat. Skin appears pale, waxy and sometimes charred.

I'd say you have a partial thickness burn from that, but

I AM NOT A DOCTOR

Do they have fancy creams? I'm not too worried about scarring

Can you stop this now please ck!

Its more the dressings – all nurses will have their favourites but melolin is an absorbent dressing very old fashined treatetn – you want to keep it moist not dry- I prefer hydrocolloids ( similar to compeed) – some folk would use flamazine cream

Its up to you but properly dressed it will be less painful, heal quicker and have less scaring – but at 2 0r 3 days old the best opportunity is gone for this.

My advice would be to go the the practice nurse

theotherjonv – From all I've read it's probably too small to care about, it's nowhere near hand-sized as your book suggests requires attention. I'll return to Ming The FU 🙂 I'll call in at a drop in centre on the way home to see if they have any extra goodies. I've been keeping it moist under the melolin dressing and some generic anti-septicy cream (something like germolene IIRC).

dd – you have a filthy mind, get out of the gutter! 🙂

Burns often do well with a vaseline gauze type dressing, under melolin. Much less adhesive than melolin on it's own, and keeps the wounded area nice & moist, while clean – this is certainly the bog standard dressing that my local burns & plastics unit apply, unless they've changed very recently.

Other time to seek help with a burn is if it is circumferential (?sp) as the risk of swelling may restrict circulation. Doesn't sound like the case in your injury, but be aware of any "flu" type symtpoms coming on, I've seen some cases of toxic shock from very innocent appearing injuries that have been neglected.

it's probably too small to care about

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The numb flesh bit would suggest that it's full thickness to me, i.e. nerve damage.

My first aid at work course the other week extended the above advice about the size of the hand test to any burns on the hands should recieve medical attention. That advice seemed rather OTT to me, but in this case I think I would go to the quacks or possibly try NHS direct first.

Bet it hurt though.

A bit late, but if you're going to burn yourself on a regular basis, then it might be prudent to purchase and cultivate a couple of Aloe Vera plants. The gel from the 'leaves' is an brilliant burn/sting/graze treatment, and works better than most available products, to treat a burn. I was sceptical until I tried it, but was amazed by it's effectiveness. The burn heals up quicker, and is less painful than with other products I've used. Really good stuff.

It stung a little, yes, but to be honest the cold water from the tap hurt more – proper numb-feeling hand after 5 minutes!

but if you're going to burn yourself on a regular basis

Well I do try to avoid it at all costs to be honest, but if and aloe vera plant isn't too hard for my non green (now slightly brown and rotten looking) fingers I might give it a try in the future!

moist wound dressings are the best, even if they do look like you're cultivating a pus farm (but its not really)