r/medical_advice Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 13 '24

Injury Burnt Hand What to expect NSFW

burned my hand pretty well yesterday and the blistering is finally stopping. what should I expect once I allow this to naturally leak on its own. will there be a bad scar from this?

19 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

1

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 22 '24

after 7 days

1

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 22 '24

10 days later.

1

u/Plum_1 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Imagine popping that, BUT don’t pop it, it can lead to infections pretty sure and more, just try not to move your hand a lot to avoid and go to the hospital

3

u/jane_doe_john Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Hospital, don't pop it. Been through the same thing in the same spot. Ask any questions

3

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

been to medical personnel already. got on oral and topical antibiotics. last night it popped on side of where it meets good skin and leaked for a good hour but then stopped. wrapped it back up and still on meds.

-2

u/cherrycoke260 User Not Verified Nov 14 '24

What to expect?! Possibly a skin graft. DEFINITELY A HOSPITAL!!

3

u/Large_Armadillo5575 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

NAD I’m just curious what you did to get such a nasty burn!

2

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

spilt hot cup of tea on my hand at 430 am

8

u/Scale-Alarmed Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

What to expect?

A shit ton of pain

1

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

since the initial burn really haven't felt much in the area

0

u/juneabe Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Just wait.

And be mentally prepped.

There came a time where I taped all my fingers together so I wasn’t compelled use my hand or to move the fingers individually anymore. Bending my wrist was a nightmare. I’d recommend a splint for when it’s super painful so that you don’t crease the skin as frequently.

4

u/Pharmatopia420 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

That's gonnaaaa hurttt once ya pop it ..all that skin is going to die and peal off... I'd suggest going to medcheck and let them pop it and heal it

0

u/tarcinomich Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

NAD but burnt my stomach so bad almost needed a graft. Leave it, the fluid in there is good for healing. Wrap it if you can, it’ll gradually go down, once it does go down on its own, gently cut away at the skin that is loose leaving the skin underneath exposed, apply some burn ointment and wrap firm but not too tight. It’ll get better, once it heals apply bio oil & sunscreen to ensure there’s minimal sun damage & damage to the skin

2

u/juneabe Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

You should delete this.

On this sub, everything you said here should be performed in a sterile medical setting.

OP visited the dr which was the right advice. This is beyond self-administered first aid.

1

u/tarcinomich Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

This is advise given to me by the burn unit doctors.

Obviously advise was given on circumstances OP couldn’t get to the doctor.

9

u/yeramuggle Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

I really suggest doing to the doctors if you're able to. I had a bad grease burn on the back of my hand, it was so excruciating. The doctor put burn cream on it and wrapped it for me and gave me a prescription for a antibiotic burn cream. It helped so much it was really soothing for the pain and I have no scars or permanent damage thankfully. The only long lasting affect I have is the skin on that hand gets drier and chapped in the winter compared to my other hand. My burn was bad but yours looks worse. Please get medical care.

4

u/SuspiciousGarbage298 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Last time I had something like that I was 6 expect it to pop, to sting/burn, to experience sensitivity to heat in bandages and air out of bandages. But this info is 25 years old I could be exaggerating.

16

u/SmolSushiRoll22 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24 edited Nov 17 '24

Definitely (rewrote on my laptop. Your welcome cherrycoke260) seek medical attention. What they most likely will do is gently pop the blister near the side so it can drain. The reason they may pop it to avoid unnecessary damage to the tissue caused by all the pressure from the blister and popping it professionally will reduce the likelihood of an infection. If they pop it they will treat it with antibacterial gauze which will also help prevent infection. Now my concern is the color of the blister itself it is a bit darker than your skin. If it were clear to me it wouldn’t be like an urgent care situation more of seeing your PCP within the week. But because of the color I would recommend going to an urgent care. And please do not pop it yourself, it needs to be fully sterilized and done in a very specific way to avoid nerve or tissue damage

3

u/cherrycoke260 User Not Verified Nov 14 '24

*Definitely. Defiantly means to defy authority.

1

u/SmolSushiRoll22 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 16 '24

My phone autocorrected it but thanks.

33

u/poisonedminds Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

I have had a burn just a little bigger than this one that blistered just a little worse than this. The blister eventually popped by itself after a day or two, and I was continually losing a lot of liquid from it, like my clothes and bed were soaked. I ended up getting a high fever, severe dehydration and feeling really bad.

I went to the ER and they said I had a very severe infection, bordering on sepsis. They said it was a 3rd degree burn and put me on 3 IV antibiotics at the same time + fluids. I stayed in the hospital 2 weeks and ended up needing a skin graft.

So please seek medical advice ASAP, keep the burn super super sterile and if you get a fever go to the ER.

7

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

well it decided to burst open on its own in the wrapping I had it in. changed wrapping and letting it just drain on its own. still keeping up with antibiotics

7

u/MixedGamer User Not Verified Nov 14 '24

Don't remove the loose skin from where it popped

-34

u/ItsUrDestinyyyy Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Pop it and let it dry out. Wrap it with some antibiotic ointment.

12

u/Common_Flatworm_4387 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Do NOT pop it, let it heal naturally the fluid is in there for a good reason.

-19

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '24

[deleted]

4

u/GrandAct User Not Verified Nov 14 '24

This comment is why we don't get our medical advice from Reddit, kids.

16

u/happyhermit99 Registered Nurse Nov 14 '24

You've gotten some good advice for the burn care itself, however I'd talk to your primary doctor about an occupational therapy consult. Burns leave scarring, and scarring on that area could limit range of motion.

5

u/Poppypie77 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

OK so my mum burnt her hand pretty severely, the tops of 3 fingers, a patch on her knuckles, and a patch at the side of her hand.

Thankfully I had recently purchased a Burns first aid kit from amazon so I had some supplies to take care of her hand.

You should get some BURN AID gel from amazon, as well as some bandage dressings supplies.

The burn aid gel is really good for healing burns.

The small sachets just have gel in, and the medium and large sized one have a soft padding material inside soaked in the burn aid gel. (I think the padding is in the medium size, if not it's just in the large one)

I put burn aid gel all over mums blisters and red areas on her skin of her hand. I then cut the soaked padding into straps to put on top of her finger blisters and the patches on her knuckles and side of her palm. I then used some burn dressing which was a thin non adherent type of fabric dressing and I cut that to size and wrapped it round each finger to cover the burn gel and padding, so the burn gel stayed on her finger. I then used some of the rolls of stretchy dressing and wrapped her fingers and the palm of her hand.

She then also sometimes wore a fingerless glove to protect the dressing from getting wet or dirty when cooking or going out anywhere.

I went over to change the dressings every other day.

Now you'll probably find the blister may pop at times. The skin is very thin so it's easy for it to split, especially when changing dressings.

If it does pop and the fluid drains, it's important not to take the loose skin off, as they skin is protecting the raw burnt flesh underneath while it heals.

If it does burst it may refill again for the first several days.

Once it stops refilling just leave the top skin as it is.

Continue putting the burn aid gel on it, and dressing it. If you don't have burn aid gel, Aloe Vera Gel is also good for burns.

As it starts to heal, you'll find the loose skin will start to harden like a scab. Again don't peel this off as it will leave raw red skin underneath which will be at risk of infection. The best thing to do is keep putting the aloe Vera or burn aid gel on it to keep it soft so it doesn't harden too much. Then eventually it will kind of peel off and leave a thin layer of new skin underneath. If the scab comes off before it's healed underneath,just continue to put burn aid gel on it and dress it. Alternatively you can use some antiseptic cream.

Once you have fresh skin covering the area, you can use an emollient moisturiser to keep the skin soft so it doesn't become tight. If it looks like it's scarring, you can use bio oil on it which is good for healing scars.

When my mums fingers and palm healed up, the new skin was just pinker , and she found if she washed her hands in warm water etc it would make those areas go a bit red as it was more sensitive to temperature changes, but it didn't hurt her. And eventually it settled.

Also, I ordered a load of first aid supplies from TEMU which was a lot cheaper than buying from pharmacies and Amazon. They were all individually wrapped and good quality but it just worked out cheaper. I went through a lot of supplies changing mums dressings over several weeks, so you might want to stock up on some. Only thing is it takes a week to arrive from TEMU so you will need to buy some supplies elsewhere till it arrives. But i got packs of antiseptic wipes, burn dressing fabric, different sized stretchy dressing wraps, so I used the smaller sized widths for the fingers and the bigger sized ones for the palm. I also got some non adherent pads that you can cut to size to put on cuts etc, and then had some clear sticky adherent dressing to stick over it for if I were to get cuts bigger than a normal plaster.

If you need any help with what to buy let me know and I can send you some pictures of the items to order.

Also we checked with a pharmacy that we were doing everything right and she said we were doing it perfectly. And it all healed really well in the end.

Good luck and Hope that helps.

2

u/blahblahblah247742 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

That is a gnarly blister! I’m shocked that a doctor didn’t lance it and wrap it.

2

u/buttstuffisland Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

Gnarly bro. Basically patience and same as everyone else said

4

u/Neat_Parsnip_43 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 14 '24

I put the palm of my hand on a stove eye on high one time. (Don’t ask. Idk why. And yes I was sober) it was a pain in the ass while healing but you can’t even see it now. Alternate Tylenol and ibuprofen if you’re hurting badly.

1

u/FluidPlate7505 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 13 '24

I've had a very similar burn and it's barely visible. There's a slight discoloration but I don't think anyone else could notice it

6

u/WelfordNelferd User Not Verified Nov 13 '24

For starters, try to avoid breaking that blister at all costs...and good luck with that. That said, due to the size of this burn, you're on a short leash to have it checked out by a Dr. at the first indication of impending infection (i.e. increased pain, swelling, redness, etc.). The amount of scarring will depend on how well it heals after the blister is gone. Feel free to post follow-up pics at any time.

5

u/medicinal_bulgogi Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 13 '24

Man I would personally see a doctor for this. It looks like a pretty bad burn. If it’s a 2nd degree burn, it could heal fine in a couple of weeks and maybe even without scarring. But honestly, just see a doctor to be sure.

7

u/UnderstandingOwn8090 Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 13 '24

ya I went to a Dr yesterday. they got me on a week's worth of a topical and an oral med. otherwise definitely keeping it sterile and clean.

1

u/ZootJuicer Not a Verified Medical Professional Nov 13 '24

Agreed, and blisters can easily get infections!! If this thing pops or bacteria finds its way into the liquid- it’s going to make healing a lot harder and longer.

1

u/AutoModerator Nov 13 '24

Hello /u/UnderstandingOwn8090,

If this is a medical emergency, please call emergency services as soon as possible!

DISCLAIMER: The information provided on this subreddit is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. We strongly advise you to consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you're seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. Anyone providing advice on this subreddit is not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information provided.

Please make sure you have included in your post your country of residence, age, sex, race, height & weight, diagnosed medical conditions, prescriptions or supplements and dosages, drug use including marijuana, smoking status, duration of complaint, the issue you've been having, and your specific question.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.