Can rat oil cure burns? A boy was admitted to the ICU because of it! Don’t use these folk remedies anymore...

Recently, the topic #Grandma used rat oil to treat her child’s burns and infection# became a hot search, sparking heated discussions among netizens.

Weibo screenshot

User comments

After the boy was scalded, his parents applied rat oil on the wound according to a folk remedy, which resulted in infection and the child was admitted to the ICU.

It's not just rat oil. There are many folk remedies for treating burns, such as applying toothpaste, incense ash and incense oil. Are these also unreliable? So how should burns be treated correctly? Let's learn more about it.

1

Why don’t folk remedies like applying toothpaste and rat oil work?

Scald is a common accidental injury in daily life. Professionally speaking, it refers to the damage caused by hot steam, hot water and red-hot solids on the human body.

Once burns occur, the skin may experience stinging, erythema, blisters, and even skin peeling and necrosis.

Common causes of burns include:

Gas: superheated steam produced when boiling water or cooking;

Liquid: hot water, hot soup, bath water, foot bath water, hot oil, etc.;

Solids: cooking and heating tableware, hot water bottles, heat packs, radiators, lit cigarette butts, fireworks, etc.

There are many folk remedies for treating burns, but many of them are not scientific.

(1) Avoid applying inappropriate substances to burn wounds, such as mercurochrome, gentian violet and other colored drugs, otherwise it will affect the doctor's observation of the wound surface and judgment of its depth.

(2) Try not to apply difficult-to-remove substances such as rat oil, yellow bean paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, toothpaste, incense ash, etc. to the wound surface. Not only will it have no therapeutic effect, it will also be detrimental to wound cleaning and increase the chance of wound contamination.

(3) Do not rub, massage or squeeze the burned skin to avoid aggravating the injury.

(4) Do not use unsterilized instruments to pick at blisters to avoid aggravating the infection.

2

How to determine the severity of burns?

The severity of burns is assessed by the extent and depth of damage to the body surface.

Area determination

The burn area refers to the percentage of skin burn area to the total body surface area.

The "9-point method" is usually used to assess the area, which is to divide the body parts into zones based on "9" so that we can quickly calculate the area of ​​the injured body.

Table 1 Calculation of body surface burn area

Determination of thermal damage depth

The depth of thermal damage adopts the "three degrees and four divisions method":

Table 2 Determination of thermal damage depth

Severity of heat injury

Thermal damage is divided into three levels: mild, medium and severe, depending on its area and depth:

Table 3 Determination of thermal damage degree

Special note: The severity of thermal injury is not only determined by the size of the injury, but also by the depth of tissue damage caused by the injury.

3

How to deal with burns of different degrees?

The first step is to get away from the heat source. No matter what the cause of the burn, the first measure is to get away from the heat source immediately to minimize the further damage to the tissue and body.

When dealing with burns, remember these five words: rinse, remove, soak, cover, and send.

Rinse: Rinse or soak the burned area in water. If soaking is not possible, apply a wet cloth to the surface for about 20 to 30 minutes until the pain is gone.

Take off: Remove the clothes on the wound, you can use scissors or other tools.

Soak: Soak the affected area in water (if shivering occurs, stop immediately).

Cover: Cover the wound with clean gauze or towel. If blisters appear, try not to puncture the blisters.

Tip: Unless the burn is mild and covers a small area, you should go to a hospital with treatment facilities as soon as possible and seek treatment from a professional doctor. Do not follow various folk remedies.

If the wound is treated blindly, it may cause infection, delay diagnosis and treatment. If the wound is large, it may be life-threatening.

Experts in this article:

Liu Geng, attending physician, Emergency Department, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital

Zhao Bin, Chief Physician, Emergency Department, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital