Burns are damage to the skin that is caused by heat, sun, fire, radiation, electricity and chemicals. The main effect of most burns is to disrupt the normal function of the skin, the largest organ system of the body. Burns in young children and elderly persons are especially serious, since their skin is thinner and more readily damaged.

Function of Skin:

• Skin protects the body from invasion by bacteria and other organisms.
• Skin helps to retains moisture and body fluids, excretes excessive fluids and some salts (sweat).
• Skin provides a flexible covering for underlying structures, and regulates body temperature.

Causes of Burns: The common cause of serious burns are hot liquids and contact with hot surfaces, flame burns (most severe and cause the most deaths) and electric burns.

Severity of Burns: The severity of a burn depends on its depth, extent, location, cause, the age of the person injured, and the presence of associated medical problems.

Degrees of Burns:

• First-degree burns - it produces only erythema (redness).

• Second-degree burns - it cause a superficial or deeper partial-thickness injury of the skin. This type of burn is commonly caused by scalding-hot liquids, it is characterized by the formation of blisters and involves destruction of the epidermis (the thin outer covering of the skin) but only a small portion of the dermis (the deeper, thicker component of the skin).
• Third-degree burns - this degree of burn completely destroy the affected area of the skin, including its oil and sweat glands and hair follicles.

Healing of Burns:

• Superficial second-degree burns - this degree of burn usually heal in 7 to 10 days and leave little or no scar. The destroyed epidermis is regenerated by epithelial cells, which migrate out from the intact skin glands and hair follicles (epithelialization).
• Deep second-degree burn - this type of burn usually produced by flame or intense heat is characterized by formation of a thin leatherlike layer of coagulated and dead cells. This will also heal by epithelialization (to cover with epithelial tissue) in 14 to 21 days, but a noticeable amount of scarring will result.
• A third-degree, or full thickness, burn cannot heal spontaneously unless it is very small.