Special precautions after head and face burns

This is the 3054th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

The human head and face have a special physiological anatomy. The subcutaneous tissue of the head and face is loose and rich in blood vessels. The mouth, nose, and throat are the parts where the respiratory tract directly communicates with the outside world. Therefore, in addition to the treatment of the wound surface after burns on the head and face, special attention should be paid to the patency of the respiratory tract. In the early stage of burns, edema is very serious, and the head circumference increases significantly, and can even be 1 times larger than normal. If the edema expands inward, it can compress and block the throat or respiratory tract, causing respiratory obstruction and difficulty breathing. In severe cases, it can lead to suffocation and death. In addition, when the head and face are burned, attention should be paid to whether there is inhalation of smoke or chemicals, which leads to damage to the trachea, bronchi and alveoli, that is, inhalation injury. Causes difficulty breathing, hypoxia, and respiratory failure in severe cases.

The treatment of burn wounds on the head and face is different from that on burns on other parts of the body. In the early stage, exposure or semi-exposure therapy should be adopted, that is, shaving the hair, local debridement, exposing the wound, and keeping it clean and dry. Or apply antibacterial auxiliary materials externally without gauze on the outside. Further treatment will be done later according to the healing of the wound, whether it is infected, and the depth of the wound. At the same time, observe whether the eyes, nose, and ears are burned. If there is damage to the conjunctiva or cornea, antibacterial eye drops should be applied in time, and antibacterial eye ointment should be used to close the eyelids. Special attention should be paid to ear burns. Because the skin of the outer ear is thin and the subcutaneous tissue is small, the ear cartilage is often involved after burns, and it is complicated by ear chondritis. In case of ear burns, it is important to pay attention to the fact that the ear cannot be subjected to pressure and antibacterial auxiliary materials should be applied externally.

Therefore, you should not take burns on your head and face lightly and you must go to a professional hospital for treatment immediately.

Author: Director of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Department of Shanghai Electric Power Hospital

Zhu Weiping