Most burns are minor injuries that occur at home or work. It's common to get a minor burn from hot water, a curling iron, or touching a hot stove. Home treatment is usually all that's needed for healing and to prevent other problems, such as infection.
There are many types of burns.
- Heat burns (thermal burns) are caused by fire, steam, hot objects, or hot liquids. Scald burns from hot liquids are the most common burns to children and older adults.
- Cold temperature burns are caused by skin exposure to wet, windy, or cold conditions. They can also be caused by touching cold items such as dry ice without protection.
- Electrical burns are caused by contact with electrical sources or by lightning.
- Chemical burns are caused by contact with household or industrial chemicals in a liquid, solid, or gas form, such as acids. Natural foods such as chili peppers, which contain a substance that irritates the skin, can cause a burning sensation.
- Radiation burns are caused by the sun, tanning booths, sunlamps, X-rays, or radiation therapy for cancer treatment.
- Friction burns are caused by contact with any hard surface such as roads ("road rash"), carpets, or gym floor surfaces. They are usually both a scrape (abrasion) and a heat burn.
Breathing in hot air or gases can injure your lungs (inhalation injuries).
Burns injure the skin layers. They can also injure other parts of the body, such as muscles, blood vessels, nerves, lungs, and eyes. Burns are defined as first-, second-, third-, or fourth-degree, depending on how many layers of skin and tissue are burned. The deeper the burn and the larger the burned area, the more serious the burn is.
- First-degree burns are burns of the first layer of skin.
- There are two types of second-degree burns:
- Superficial partial-thickness burns injure the first and second layers of skin.
- Deep partial-thickness burns injure deeper skin layers.
- Third-degree burns (full-thickness burns) injure all the skin layers and tissue under the skin. These burns always require medical treatment.
- Fourth-degree burns extend through the skin to injure muscle, ligaments, tendons, nerves, blood vessels, and bones. These burns always require medical treatment.
Infection is a concern with all burns. Watch for signs of infection during the healing process. Home treatment for a minor burn will reduce the risk of infection. Deep burns with open blisters are more likely to get infected and need medical treatment.