Is applying salt to burns really effective?

There are many potential safety hazards in every family, including scalds, burns, cuts with sharp objects, and other minor injuries of varying degrees. Every summer, burns occur constantly in families. Minors and even children account for the majority of burns. They are usually burned by boiling water, hot milk, or even hot oil. In the face of burns, every family has its own set of legendary emergency methods, such as applying toothpaste, soy sauce, and even salt. Faced with all kinds of first aid tips, doctors usually don't know whether to laugh or cry and can only laugh them off. Today we are going to talk about whether rubbing salt after a burn is really effective? The answer is: edible salt is not equal to saline solution. If you touch salt after a burn, it will be ineffective and aggravate the injury.

The harm caused by scalds to the human body is actually the same as burns. They are both caused by high temperature directly on the human body, causing damage to the human skin. Therefore, when faced with scalds and burns, the first element of treatment should be cooling down. Only when the temperature drops can further serious injuries be prevented. So once someone is burned, the first thing to do is to wet the wound with cold water and rinse the wound with running water for fifteen to twenty minutes to quickly cool down the surface temperature of the burned skin. If there are still clothes on the burned area, please use scissors to cut them instead of tearing or taking them off to avoid rubbing the skin of the injured area. Wait for the surface temperature to drop before sending the patient to a doctor.

Then why can’t we apply salt? Some dermatologists explain this: After a burn, the skin surface is damaged due to high temperature, and its ability to shield the outside world is also reduced. If you apply salt at this time, it will not only increase the difficulty of cleaning the wound, but also affect the doctor's ability to see the wound when you send it to the doctor later, thus affecting the accurate judgment of the burn condition. Moreover, using salt may increase the risk of wound infection. In addition to salt being unsuitable for emergency burn treatment, soy sauce, toothpaste, etc. are also unsuitable.

Accidents are everywhere. I suggest that every family should master some common daily first aid knowledge and keep some first aid medicines at home in case of emergency.