Reviewed by medical experts • For informational purposes only
What causes burns? Kitchen scalds, flame, hot surfaces, chemicals, electricity - who is at risk and why.
A burn is damage to skin (and sometimes deeper tissue) from heat, chemicals, electricity or radiation. Most Indian household burns are thermal - heat - and most of those happen in the kitchen.
Children under five (scalds), women working long hours at stoves, industrial and kitchen workers, the elderly (thinner skin, slower reflexes), diabetics with numb feet (hot water bottles, hot floors), and people with epilepsy (burns during fits).
The classics called burns Dagdha and knew their causes plainly: fire (agni), hot liquids, steam, and caustic substances. Sushruta grouped burn care within wound management (vrana chikitsa) - his chapter on Dagdha classifies depth and prescribes stage-wise care, evidence that systematic burn treatment in India is over two thousand years old.
Scalds in the kitchen, flame on loose clothing, hot surfaces, chemicals and current: burns come from ordinary moments - which is why prevention is ordinary vigilance, and first aid must already be in your head before you need it.
Written By
Dr. Daksh
BDS
Reviewed By
Dr. Varun Gupta
MD Pharmacology, MBBS
Last updated on
27 Sep 2022 • 06:23 PM (IST)
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