2nd degree burns from boiling water

[Gobstopper1]

This happened yesterday and I was in complete agony. Spilled hot water from a kettle all over my left leg. My son was at home and called 999. I rushed to bathroom to douse in cold water for 20mins. Emergency services decided to not send an ambulance but luckily my partner rushed back to take me to A and E. Nurse deroofed all dead skin and has bandaged me up. Have an appointment at the Burns clinic tomorrow. I can just about walk on my leg but there are waves of stinging pain. I'm bracing myself for a long healing process and scars. 😥

Anyway, I wanted to start this thread to reach out to others who've been through this and to chart my journey in case it helps other too. 60% of skin on my lower leg was removed.

I can't believe how dehydrated I feel, been drinking a lot of water. The wound is weeping a lot but the nurse did say this was normal. I'm completely petrified of making a cup of tea now.

We were supposed to be flying out on hols today too. My DP has taken the kids at my insistence while I recover. Didn't want them to miss out. Xx

OMG how horrific for you. I haven't experienced this but I wish you all the very best for a speedy recovery 💐

Thank you xx

That sounds awful, no wonder you're terrified of using thy kettle.

A friend, when we were late teens, went for Chinese food after a night out. She slipped on the floor and spilled the food down herself and ended up with bad burns on her body. She had to go to the burns clinic for ages to get them properly dressed and couldn't shower because of where the burns were.

My Dsis pulled a cup of coffee on herself as a toddler, the water had just come from the kettle and there was no milk so it was boiling. The skin came away from her torso as her T-shirt was removed, but she had a skin graft and 22 years on has no scars at all. I know it’s probably different as you’re not a growing child, but I don’t think awful scarring is a given. Wishing you all the best

Thanks, good to know that the outcome may be OK. Sounds ridiculous but I love my legs and I work out/run a lot. I just can't believe how much damage hot water can do, that's shows my complete naivety.

Burns unit tomorrow to get a prognosis and dressings changed. I just don't think I can look at my leg so will be removing my glasses before I go in. I have a high prescription so can't see much!

I just hope it's going to be ok.

Probably should have moved this thread to General Health rather than on Chat!

For anyone interested, I had my appointment at the Burns unit today. They've said it's a superficial burn and should heal in a few weeks. The experience of the wound being cleaned was excruciating, I nearly passed out from the pain and had to take copious amounts of gas and air. They've put a dressing that the nurse has said can stay on for the week, I'll be there again next Thursday. The dressing has silver in it with she has said will aid healing and prevent infection. But it absolutely burns, she said it would do for a few hours - or her words were it'll be 'warm'.

I've taken some strong painkillers but honestly the pain is something else. Really struggling through it at the moment. At least it will heal. Xx

Hi mumsnet, can this thread be moved to General Health?

Sounds awful. I wish you all the best.

So easily done.

Update: it's day 6 since I sustained 2nd degree superficial partial thickness burns to 50% of my lower leg. Had my outer dressings changed today and there is no sign of infection.

Burns unit have placed AQUACEL SURGICAL dressing over the wound which attaches itself to the burn area, absorbs liquid and prevents infection. It has silver in the dressing for this. FYI - this does hurt a lot for a few hours after application. I was having to breath deeply a lot through this process, it's the dressing attaching itself to my wound. It subsides after a few hours but is uncomfortable.

Pain management, I'm taking paracetamol and ibuprofen with dihydrocodeine. I was also prescribed gabapentin but have not needed this as much.

Today was a good day as I was able to walk out of the house and to the car to change my outer dressing at my GP practice. Walking was OK but standing is still quite painful due to the throbbing pain. The back of my leg is still leaking quite a lot, this was the area that sustained the most damage. I've been told by Burns unit this is completely normal.

Rehabilitation has involved me gently stretching my leg throughout the day to keep the skin elasticity and walking whenever possible.
Diet wise, I've increased protein intake at every opportunity. I'm eating cheese, boiled eggs, yogurt, chicken and nuts. I'm also drinking homemade juice every day which has been made up of - carrots, oranges, apples, ginger and cucumber. All to boost my body with vital nutrients. I've started taking a bovine collagen supplement, vit D, iron and B12.

To mitigate constipation from the pain killers, I'm drinking prune juice which is helping.

So far so good. Back at Burns unit on Thursday to check healing progress.

I'll attach some pics, I asked my DF to take them as I'm not ready to see the extent of my injury yet!

Keep an eye on your salt intake too.

It’s easy to increase fluid intake, and end up out of whack on salt. Salted nuts, or crisps worth adding to the mix.

Yes absolutely. I've been eating crisps and salted peanuts too. I have electrolyte tablets as I'm a runner, I'll start adding these to my daily intake. I'm drinking coconut water too.

Hydration is so key with the healing process, I couldn't believe how much water I needed. Especially in the initial stage where you loose a lot of liquid from the burn area.

I'll be posting regular updates on my recovery journey in case it helps anyone else.

Latest update - day 9 since injury.

Had my 2nd appointment at the Burns unit today and my recovery has been going really well! Nurse removed the Aquacel dressing from most of my burn and she has said it is healing well and I should be out of bandages next week. I'm so thankful, staff at the Burns unit have been incredible.

Diet has been so key, I really do believe the high protein diet, juicing and restricted sugar intake has helped me massively with my recovery.

That's good to hear. Are you still - understandably - anxious about using a kettle? If so, you may feel happier with a hot water dispenser instead and, rather than lifting pans, using a scoop/spider to remove any boiling vegetables or pasta instead of pouring them into a colander.

Vitamin c supplements are also excellent for constipation. As are linseeds (with lots of water). I have a lot of experience with constipation 😳🫠

So sorry this has happened to you, but so glad to hear you are doing so well! You are doing all the right things and sounds like it’s paying off!

Yeah the constipation has been awful. I'll will give this a go, thank you 😊

Yes, I've been very lucky it was only a superficial burn. I just hope the pain eases soon and it doesn't scar too much.

Keeping everything crossed for you 🤞🤞🤞 I understand kelocote gel is very good for helping to minimise scarring and may be an option for you once you are further down the line in healing.

Vit C you want as least 500mg tablets/capsules and take 1 or 2 a day.

Good luck and will be keeping an eye out for your updates to hear how you are doing. 💐💐💐

So it'll be 2 weeks since I sustained this injury. I haven't been on pain killers for a few days and I think this has affected my mood. I can see why dihydrocodeine is seen as addictive. It did dull my feelings as well as pain.

Mobility wise, I'm pretty much normal. I'm walking around but standing can become uncomfortable as there is still a slight burning tingling sensation in my leg but this is getting better.

I don't know when I can get back to running again and the gym and this is frustrating me. Plus when I am at the gym, I'll have to cover my lower leg as it'll look so obvious.

I'm getting bandages changed tomorrow and then Burns unit on Thursday for an update. If all is well then my bandages will be removed. But I haven't seen my leg since I had the accident. I have no idea what to expect.

My skin is dark brown and I can see on the top of my leg that my new skin is pink. This is depressing and I am concerned about scarring. I always have my legs out during the summer too. Wondering when the melanin will return.

Going out is making me anxious. I have a wedding to attend next weekend which I really want to go but I'm concerned about sun exposure, walking around etc. These are things I was never concerned about 2 weeks ago! I'm a big walker and other than my face, I'm never concerned about sun exposure. 😔

I've had to change my wardrobe as I live in shorts. I've bought a nice long denim skirt, some UPF 50 trousers from Mountain Warehouse and some long baggy trousers.

I'm also looking into high factor sun screen for sensitive skin and UPF 50 leg sleeves to wear once skin has fully healed. Plus long gym leggings too.

Feeling quite emotional and vulnerable today.

I feel so crap for missing the holiday with my kids and not being able to take them anyway on day trips over the summer break. We head to a festival every year as a family during August bank holiday but I really don't want to go. It's outdoors, lots of walking, not very clean, limited shower use etc etc. My kids and DP want me to go and it'll be another family break that I'll miss but I'm worried about not being at home, sun exposure, walking etc etc.

I hope it'll get better soon and I can have some of my normality back. Xx

Hi@Gobstopper1your thread just came up on active. Sorry to see what you’ve been through. I suffered a bad scald to my foot doing similar about a week before you and have ended up with partial thickness burns which are still not healed. It feels like such a long road doesn’t it. I’m so sorry you had to miss your holiday too.

random question, but do you feel tired all the time? I’m so exhausted and can never seem to get enough sleep!

I'm so sorry to hear you're going through the same thing 😔 I feel absolutely exhausted and now struggling with sleep due to the intense itching I'm now feeling on parts of my burn. The nurse at my GP practice told me this is a positive sign.

She said the skin is healing well but there is still half under the AQUACEL dressing. She was reluctant to remove it as she doesn't know enough information about it! Have you had the same dressing placed on your foot?

I went out to meet some friends in town today for lunch, and walked around for an hour too. It was so nice to do something normal! But I then started feeling paranoid so headed home and rested my leg for the rest of the afternoon.

I hope I get some good news on Thursday.

When are you back at Burns unit? What information have you been given about your foot? Xx

I’ve been on the Meliplex AG silver foam dressings .

For the first week I didn’t realise how bad it was-I went to the walk in centre and they just told me to bandage it. It wasn’t until it got de-roofed at a different walking centre after it had turned into a giant blister and got infected that they realised how deep it was underneath. The burns unit were brilliant though. I had to get admitted to get the infection under control but I was pleased to escape a skin graft. I’m back Thursday too and hoping it’s looking better!

Also worried about doing too much too as they’ve told me to keep my leg up as much as I can but all day is hard so I do do bits too! Do you have to elevate yours?

Had my appointment at the Burns unit today. Staff have removed my dressings, they've told me the skin has healed so I've been discharged. I now have to keep the skin moisturised and out of the sun. I still couldn't look at my leg, without my glasses I couldn't see clearly but could see my skin looking a blotchy purple and pink. 😭

I've been so focused on just getting better since my accident that I haven't thought about the next steps - scar management, looking after my new delicate skin etc etc.

It's really hard to not feel disfigured, I know I have to focus on being positive and remember it will change again in a few weeks/months/year.

How are you doing? X

I had a minor burn on my wrist back in January I think. Interestingly that has changed substantially and has ended up quite a bit darker than my (yellow-y olive-y) skin. Obviously absolutely miniscule in comparison to what you've experienced but I guess just reinforcing your point about expecting it to change over the coming months.