Burns and scalds are the damage caused to your skin and body tissues by intense heat, boiling water or strong chemicals.

What causes burns and who can get them?

Scalds are the damage caused when you come in contact with very hot fluids, like boiling water from a kettle.

The cause of a burn may be:

• Direct heat – from flames, hot surfaces, hot liquids or gases
• Electrical – from faulty wiring, old plugs, lightning
• Chemical – from strong acids or alkalis, like cleaning fluids

Anyone can burn themselves. It is very common for every day accidents in the home to result in burns and scalds.

Young children often burn themselves because they don’t have as much sense of what can be dangerous. Such as hot cups of tea, pans of boiling water on the cooker or very hot baths.

What are the signs and symptoms of burns?

After a burn, your skin will be sore and red. It may also blister or, in severe cases, become white or charred. Sometimes people can also get headaches or fever.

If more than 10 per cent of the body surface area is affected, burns can cause shock. Signs of this include grey, cold, sweaty skin, rapid pulse and shallow rapid breathing.

How are burns normally diagnosed and treated?

Burns and scalds are common and it's important to deal with them straight away to reduce pain, skin damage and stop infection.

After a minor burn or scald, you should put the affected area under cold running water for at least 10 minutes.

Take any clothing off the affected area but not any that's stuck to the burn. Then cover it with a clean, non-fluffy cloth.

If the burn is large, or the person with the burn seems to be in shock, see a doctor or go to hospital straight away.

In hospital doctors measure how bad your burns are using special charts. If more than ten per cent of your body has been burnt you need hospital treatment. Burns to more than 50 per cent of the body are usually fatal.

What’s going to help?

Stop burns from happening by being careful when you are around hot liquids, chemicals and electrics.

Make sure your home is safe. Check with your parents that they have smoke detectors installed and if you smell gas when you enter your house, don’t turn the lights on because this could cause a fire. Leave the house immediately and call for help.

Looking forward

Normal burns should heal completely in around two weeks. They might leave a faint scar. If you have very severe burns, such as from a house fire or car accident, these need special long term care.

Bad burns can badly disfigure a person and the way they look. You may need skin grafts, where they replace your skin, or even plastic surgery to reconstruct parts of your body. This can take several months or even years.

People that have suffered very bad burns often need to talk to a psychologist. This helps them to come to terms with the trauma of being badly burnt and any scars they may have to live with.

For more help and information

If you would like to know more about burns, please ask your doctor.

The Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents www.rospa.com has lots of useful information on home safety.

You can also look on the St John’s Ambulance website that has a section on burns and scalds.

Check out www.iface.org.uk – a discussion forum and information resource for young people affected by a skin condition or disfigurement of the face or body.

Last reviewed by Great Ormond Street Hospital: 25 September 2007

Copyright © Great Ormond Street Hospital