Cling Film (Sarin Wrap to all you Yanks!)

Hi guys!
I got told a while ago by my first-aid instructor that the best dressing for burns that require hospital treatment is cling film (sarin wrap). This was becase it leaves no lint or particles that require cleaning in the ER and the doctors can see the burn without aggravating it further. You can even run cold water over the cling film to reduce the impact to the damaged area.

Has anyone heard of this before or can they recommend it / disagree with it?

It seems to make sense to me but serious burns kick out a lot of heat... is there a danger of melting the plastic to you or is cling film a thermo-setting polymer and I'm way off?!!

Just debating if I should pack a roll of cling-film in my burns kit!

its for sure one of the best things. i have worked with a firespinning nurse who used it on himself to no detriment and stopped the burn getting worse.

one of its best effects is in fact as an oxygen inhibitor - the burn stops burning if it has no oxygen getting to it.

put it in, and use it if you need to.

yeah, also it stops any new dirt or bacteria or whatever getting into the burn, which is good, since for some burns you have no skin left to stop any dirt or whatever getting right into you.

is anyone else wondering why 'clingfilm' (or gladwrap) is named after a toxic nerve gas in the states?

I think it's actually sarAn wrap.

Gladwrap's the Ozzie name innit? My ex-hubPom person thought that was most amusing and called it Happy Plastic.

And that is an excellent tip, thanks heaps for posting. Hope you never need it.

Er - may I be so bold as to suggest moving it into the more public domain?

Good tip

thanks for posting it.

Thanks for that! I've heard it before but thought it was only an urban myth!

That is good to know indeed! If you run water over it, wouldn't that ruin the static that creates the cling? Maybe I'll go try with an un-burnt arm first!

All I know is that I, and every other Yank I know, will be calling it cling film from now on. You foreigners just come up with the cutest names for things!

I've heard it's good too. I've also heard it can rip the skin when you take it off though so i'm not sure. Also surely water isn't good as it has a ton of bacteria e.t.c in it?

I'm in Texas and I've heard it Saran Wrap all my life o.o.

Water's great for a first degree that doesn't break the skin, to cool the area and stop the burn deepening. Wouldn't put it on a more severe one though, that has broken the skin.

Yup, newgabe is right, you're not supposed to run water over a burn if it has broken the skin. I don't know if its ok if you have cling film over it. I guess as long as you make sure that the water absolutley cannot get under the film.

Cling film is really good for burns for so many reasons. Also not mentioned, is I've heard it takes some of the pain out of the burn. I think its because some of the pain is caused by air moving over the burn, and obviously cling film stops this happening.

P.s. You're meant to run water over a burn for at least 10-15 minutes. Most people don't realise how long you're meant to keep it under for to help prevent pain/blistering etc.

AND!! Being all clingy and plasticy-stuck-together-on-the-roll-ness it's about as close to sterile as something that isn't can be.


AND!!! Cling film is the best thing to wrap round sucking chest wounds... Luckily you're far less likely to get one of those than a burn from your fire toys...

Hurrah for staticy plasticy goodness, no more shall we swear at it as the whole roll shreds into little bits and gets all tangled and sticks irreversibly to itself when all we wanted to do was wrap this last bit of cheese goddammit!!!
Ahem.

the british red cross agrees: http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=79556#section1

It really is the best thing to use. When my niece managed to burn her leg with boiling water we had an area of about 15cm x 20 cm's to cover. The clingfilm we used meant not only could we see what state the burn was in as we travelled to hospital it meant we could apply a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel to the burn to cool it down without fear of infecting it any more than it already was.

It took a fair few weeks to heal completely but the burns dept staff told us that our actions had probably saved her from having to have a skin graft.

Her leg is fine now and all she has left to show for her accident is a slowly fading red wine stain at the top of her leg.

I learnt this a very, very long time ago, I think it was probably first when I was in CCF at school, I've always had a box of cling film nearby when fire spinning.

In case anyone wondering, no, tin foil isn't a viable alternative, it will stick, crumple and hurt, and doesn't let you see.