II. Signs
- Evaluate Skin Abrasion as a friction burn
- Estimate depth of injury (First Degree Burn, Second Degree Burn, Third Degree Burn)
- Estimate total body surface area involved
III. Management
- As with Burn Injury, for extensive involvement, replace fluids, and burn center referral
-
Wound cleaning
- Anesthetize area (Topical Anesthetic, Local Anesthetic or Field Block)
- Scrub wound with soapy water to remove as much particulate matter as possible
- Irrigate wound
- Scrape wound with #10 blade to remove additional particulate matter
- Residual matter within wound results in Tattooing
- Dressing
- Apply Topical Ointment (Bacitracin, petroleum jelly)
- Apply Absorptive Dressing and changed dressing twice daily until drainage ceases
- Additional skin protection
- Apply sun screen (SPF 30 titanium or Zinc Oxide) to scar to prevent permanent darkening
IV. References
- Orman and Swaminathan in Herbert (2017) EM:Rap 17(11): 1-2