First-Aid Treatment of Scalds and Burns by Water Cooling

Abstract

Experimental and clinical evidence has demonstrated that water cooling is an effective first-aid treatment for scalds and burns. Experimental studies are described which indicated that it reduces the mortality rate and the severity of local pathologic changes, improves tissue regeneration and arrests degeneration of underlying tissues; the experiments, using rats as the test animals, showed further that clothing enhances the ill effects of scalding. A provisional outline of treatment for minor burns and scalds, chemical burns, and major burns and scalds in man is presented.