Duh! I done gone and burnt myself.

This might sound a bit disgusting....I apologise...

I need a bit of first-aid advice.

I've burnt my hand pretty bad the night before last with boiling water.

All of the back of my hand in bright purple but not too sore. The first layer of skin where the water hit came off straight away and the skin underneath it then started forming the blister which at this point is round and about 4 centrimetres in diameter.

I went to the chemist yesterday morning and got some cream which I've been putting on the rest of the hand - not the blistered part, because obviously it's covered in skin

The guy said not to burst the blister because it's keeping underneath sterile....makes sense...thing is it's getting more and more full of liquid and I now have what looks like a huge dome shaped wart on the back on my hand.

It's really quite disgsusting looking and more an more people are commenting... My friends I have coffee with suggested I have coffee elsewhere tomorrow morning if I bring my friend...

So questions.....
1) Can I burst it or is it going to burst itself?
He said to dress it as soon as it burst.
2) But should I remove the skin to put cream on all of the burn first or just a drop where I burst it?
3) How often should I change the dressing?

Thanks in advance
James (and his parasite)

personally i would dress it loosely now to both protect it slightly and to hide it from your fragile coffee buddies' view

when it bursts i would apply the cream over the whole blister area

however, i am not a doctor.
or even a vet.

my last piece of advice is to always wear gloves, that way this can never happen again - why do you think i always wear a hat?

Ah, you poor thing!

I'd suggest you go back to the chemist on your way home this evening and ask for further advice.

Have a scout about and see if Lightning is around, but other than that....

I usually lance the edge of blisters with a sterilised needle, gently push all the fluid out, slather antiseptic cream all over and around it and then cover it with a plaster. That tends to work for me.

However, I'm NOT recomending you do anything similar, because I have no idea how a blister that large will react to it.
Personally, I say you should carry your friend to the hospital for a quick visit, they'll be able to tell you how to treat it properly, that's one of the reasons they work there after all

If you absolutely need to lance it, hold a pin in a candle flame until it turns black. Then wait for it to cool without setting it down. Poke one hole at the base of the blister and push the fluid out. Make sure to get out as much as you can and periodically drain the blister by pushing out any new fluid.

If the area starts to get red, swollen, painful, and hot, go to an emergency room because that is a sign of infection. Based on what you have described, the burn should heal with little or no scarring.

Thanks to everyone for the advice I'll buy a pair of gloves on the way home

I have been in you situation before. GO TO A DOCTOR. I took care of a burn on my leg for 2 weeks before I saw one. The fact that it does not hurt too bad now is a bad sign. That means it's 3rd degree or what they call a deep full thickness burn. 3rd degree burns don't hurt because you have destroyed the nerve endings, in two weeks they will start to regenerate and guess what. LOTS OF PAIN. The cream you are using, is it silvadeen (SP?) or a silver cream? if so it's good stuff and that's what the dr will probrably use. Burns on hands are espceially bad due to the fact that the skin needs to be flexable. Let me repeat, go see a doctor as soon as you can. They may refer you to a wound care clinic and or a plastic surgeon. Don't wait for it to get infected before you go. Ask them to culture it, if there is bacteria there they may start you on antibiotics before visible signs of infection. I know this from personal experience. Let a dr tell you how to take care of it. Push your pride aside and go see one

Ring NHS direct.

If they tell you to go and see a doctor, then ring the surgery. They'll tell you you hafta wait 2 weeks or some rediculous time, but if you tell them you've rung nhs direct you'll get an appointment to see a nurse straight away. If the nurse thinks it's worth seeing a doctor, you'll see one the same day. It's better to have these things seen by a nurse than buying expensive creams from boots.

The irony of spinning for the past 1.5 years is that i have no scars from it. I do have several burns scars though from cooking (mainly whilst drunk). At Joe's i was carrying a bowl of boiling soup across the kitchen and spilt it on my hand, then had to wait a couple of seconds holding the burning hot boil with soup all over me till i could put it down. If it were my own bowl i'd have just dropped it, but i didn't wanna break joe's stuff . My hand hurt like buggery, but i held it under a tap for 15 minutes, then applied burns cream and an ice pack for 30 mins, then more burns cream, then more ice. By the following day it tingled, but i had no burn/scold at all. I *always* carry a tube of burns cream with me when i go spinning. At a liquid connective party last year i got a nasty burn from a piece of wood by a bonfire which i didn't know had been in the bonfire. There was no running water to be found, so just plastered it with burns cream and it healed within a week.

Last summer I got burning plastic on my wrist. I picked it off whilst it was still molten and ran it under the tap. Like yours though i got 2 big blisters, that stayed for almost a month. In the end one popped, and the other went down naturally a few days later. The one which popped scared, the one that didn't left no mark. My totally unmedical advice is not to pop yours, and go seek professional help

Just got told that our ambos put glad wrap over burns as soon as poss before hospital treatment.
Apparently stops the pain and helps the burn too.
Burn cream on my latest burn was lovely....felt good, smelt good..

I was avoiding heathcare cause it's a guaranteed 4-6 hour wait. and I've already spent 40 quid on prescription from a doctor this month....and I haven't been paid in 37 days!!

Well I decided not to burst it, since it's was natures way of looking after it. The only reason I wanted to at all was that it was raised about 1 cm off my hand...thing was huge.

Then by a twist of faith, it burst this morning while I was half awake....got kinda squashed in someway. I got it covered and creamed now and went to the chemist on the way here. The guy said it'll be fine, so I'll not panic anyway, but will certianly be keeping an eye on it...

Flid that's what happened to me except I have pouring boiling water into a mug and the kettle got stuck on the cord so I couldn't stop pouring and I was holding the mug in the air and waited to put everything down before I stated swearing and going menthol. If I could do it again, I'd throw it all against a wall and run for the cold tap.

Besides the fact I want to get back to fishtails asap it must surely be bad luck to use the same kettle twice.

Besides....at colemans's suggestions I know where gloves and a hat at all times, so it probably wouldn't work anyway...

Keep the cream on it. if in about 2 weeks your overdosing in OTC (over the counter) medications like tylenol, asprin, and ibuprofin like I almost did, you may need to get a perscription for something stronger. In the US we need to see a dr for a perscription, it looks like you can see a chemist for one. If you even think it's getting infected go to emergency or you could loose your hand. I'm not a dr (almost was) and it's tough to diagnose in a post even for a dr. But I worry your like me and don't think it is as bad as it is. Look out for red streeks above and below the burn (its should be below but what is below a hand?). That's another sign of infection. When I was in wound care for my burn, the would debreed (sp?) it or remove the dead tissue. This helps healing and reduces scarring. It will try to scab over but the cream will keep the scab material moist. They removed the scab stuff too, but I saw them every day for 3 months. You may need to take care of yours differently. I hope it's not as bad as I think. Good luck

Sooooooo hows the hand? I hope it's ok.