How do you treat a chemical burn on your hands?

Ah, chemical burns. They’re like the ugly duckling of burns. Sure, they may not be as common or visible as sunburns or fire-related injuries but trust me when I say that they can be just as painful and problematic.

Whether you’ve had an unlucky spill mishap during your chemistry class with Mr. Smith (who never liked you for some reason) or accidentally poured Drano instead of olive oil in your non-stick skillet (we’ve all been there), it’s important to treat them properly and get back to living life sans pain.

So sit tight, keep calm, put down the Walter White impressions ’cause we got this covered! Here’s everything you need to know about treating a chemical burn on your hands.

Step One: Assessing The Damage

Before doing anything else make sure that the burning substance is no longer in contact with your skin so that ya don’t end up looking like Two-Face from Batman (well unless that’s what you’re going for). Once this is taken care of check out these following signs:

  • Redness/swelling
  • Pain
  • Blistering
  • Blackened/whitened skin (not Michael Jackson-inspired)
  • Numbness/Tingling sensations

If 2 or more signs apply – it means a mamba-jamba burn hence follow next few steps precisely.

Step Two: Flushing The Wound

Now comes the fun part – flushing tissues like Chandra Babu Naidu floods Hyderabad drainage system. Make haste lad/dame, head over to nearest sink and start rinsing burned area under running tap water for at least twenty minutes straight.Then pat dry gently using blotting paper or clean towel/sheet making sure nothing sticks thus increasing discomfort(you’ve been warned).

Remember those gang war days where you and your rival would go on a tagging spree? Yeah, it’s kinda like that, but instead of graffiti, you’re washing off the deadly chemicals from your skin.

Step Three: Cleaning Up (your wound)

After flushing washout chemicals thorough,you need to start tending the burn. Start cleaning surrounding areas affected by burn with mild soap(Johnson’s Baby soap folks – can’t suggest anything else for crying out loud!) and cooled boiled water.Don’t forget to hopscotch back-and-forth during this step (just kidding…haha)

Once done – wrap sterile bandage (ah… finally those gifts from Granny come in handy) around the wound or if bandages isn’t available then use clean plastic cling film wrapping which should do just fine till next steps.

If any blistering observed don’t try bursting them as tempting as it may be ( trust me it’s hard). It will only increase chance of bacterial infection so what we gotta do is leave them untouched beneath wrappings until later stage.

Step Four: Pain Relief

What comes after pain? Better relief! Now that major wounds have been tended to, one cannot ignore continuous pain cropping up now-and-then.A good idea could be taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen.But given how bad some chemical burns are , prescription especially tailored towards needs might be very well needed in advance.So Consult with medical professional accordingly.

Step Five: Follow-up And Long-term Treatment

Yup..you read that right.Remember little spot who said “they all come back”…yeah.We don’t want same situation here , therefore keep checking injury time-to-time.If starting signs of infection become noticeable(such discharge/redness etc),no other option left than contacting medical help ASAP!

Burns belonging to matters under category 2nd / 3rd degree usually take some time(2-4 weeks!)to recover , resulting in repeated dressing changes as well as fine tune medication regularly for proper healing process.

Step Six : Avoiding Future Burns

Alright I’ll let y’all take a wild guess here – avoid chemicals! If using them can’t be avoided then at least wear protective equipment(item like rubber gloves, boots etc).Overall emergency doesn’t discriminate between different career paths or expertise thus making us all equal while it comes to level of precautions we must maintain there are few specific considerations relative to each profession which demands special care.

So yeah that’s pretty much the gist of it.My final advice? Don’t try transforming into Walter White because last thing you need is your hands looking deadlier than your mean-streak(But seriously watch Breaking Bad if you haven’t already).

Don’t forget folks directly contact medic professional given things getting worse over time – better safe than sorry!!

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