Seeing as it appears to be needed, a simple guide to burns:
Burns give off heat, that heat travelling down through your various layers of skin and tissue is what causes so much pain and damage.
That's why burns hurt so much.
To minimise damage and lessen pain, you need to stop itgiving off heat as quickly as you can. Hence, cold running water. You keep this up until the burning sensation stops, it'll still hurt because it's a wound but it shouldn't feel hot. Once it no longer feels hot/like it's burning, it is no longer burning you and is not causing any further damage.
Know when you get a little burn and you give it thirty seconds under the cold tap then complain it's still burning? That's because it is. The burn is still burning through the various layers of skin of tissue. That's why it needs at least 20 minutes under the tap, if not more.
If you put honey, butter, gel, toothpaste, etc on that burn then you're doing two things.
- You're trapping in the heat and causing more damage. In some cases, such as with oil based products like butter, you're making the burn more serious. Think of oil heatingin a pan...
- You're trapping bacteria against damaged skin which is going to potentially lead to a fairly serious infection.
Cold water. Sterile non-fluffy dressing, if needed (in some cases fresh air is best). Assessment at a walk-in if larger than the palm of your hand.