BURN INJURY

   A burn injury can be one of the most painful and most common household injuries especially among children. An individual can suffer burn injury as a result of exposure to sunlight or radiation, heat, chemicals and electricity. Inhalation injury can be caused by breathing smoke.  
   Thousand of people suffer from burn injuries each year and there are wide variety of potential complications that a burn injury survivor may experience such as respiratory distress, infection and shock, there are also psychological distress because burn causes deformity and scarring. Burn injuries take time to heal and the treatment is expensive, depending on the degree of the burn.
   Burns are classified by the depth of tissue affected, and they are five types of burn injury.

1. First - degree burns
   These burns  are limited to the outer layer of the skin (Epidermis). Pain is usually minor, blisters do not develop. Tissue damage and edema are minimal and most of the skin's function is still intact.
Examples of first degree burns include a mild sunburn or injury caused by briefly touching a hot pan. Symptoms may include redness, swelling, peeling skin ,and sometimes a whitish char. First degree burns increase the risk of skin cancer and the healing process is usually from 2 - 5 days.

2. Second  - degree burns
   Second degree burns affect both the outer layer of skin (Epidermis) and the underlying layer of skin (Dermis). It is more painful than first degree burns, depending on the nerves involved. Symptoms include a red or pink coloring, pain, swelling, and blisters. The healing time of a second
degree burn is generally 3 to 4 weeks and scarring is usually minimal. The most common complication with a second degree burn is an infection and if this burn is left untreated it can develop into a third degree burn.

3. Third - Degree burns
   Third degree burns involve the outer layer of skin (Epidermis), the underlying layer of skin (Dermis), and the layer of fatty tissue beneath the skin (Hypodermis), meaning all layers of the skin are destroyed.
These burns take greater than 3 weeks to heal. Healing of these burns occurs from the hair follicles and scarring is common and blisters may develop. Destruction of the sweat glands  occurs so these burns are often dry. These burns may be white, red, or red/white. Third Degree burns usually result in a lot of damage, such as scarring, charring, and loss of hair,disfigurement, contractures and amputation.  so skin grafting may be necessary. The appearance of skin that has suffered a third degree burn is stiff and brown and will appear leathery in texture.

4. Fourth - degree burns
  Full thickness burns also classified as fourth degree burns involves destruction of the entire dermis, deep tissues and bone. It burn all the way to the skin, tissue, ligaments, bones, tendons and muscles. and result in charring and extreme damage to the hypodermis.
The complications associated with fourth degree burn include amputation, gangrene and death. These burns are painless and heal with heavy scarring and granulation hence skin grafting is mandatory. One potential complication of this type of injury is compartment syndrome due to excessive swelling. A fourth degree burn will cause little to no pain because the nerve endings are destroyed.

5. Fifth-degree burns
The fifth type of burn injury involves inhalation. Inhalation injuries are caused by breathing in hot air. The upper airways and mucous membranes are often damaged as a result of inhalation. The chances of death is increased when inhalation injuries are combined with external burns.