How to Treat Alcohol Burns

If you have received chemical burns from alcohol, you need to be careful to seek the correct burn care treatment for your burn injury. A simple burn ointment is not enough for burn relief. Otherwise your “cure” could end up doing more damage to burn victims. Follow these steps to provide burn care on chemical burn victims with either a first degree burns, 2nd degree burns, and 3rd degree burns from alcohol.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• An adhesive bandage for burn injury (minor burns)
• burn ointment (for all but 3rd degree burns)
• Over the counter pain relievers for burn relief

1. Determine the type of burn injury of burn victims to ensure the proper burn relief. First degree chemical burns are indicated by red skin. It is painful, but the skin is not broken. You can safely provide burn care for this injury at home. Run the injured area under cold water for at least 20 minutes. Apply aloe vera for a burn ointment to bring moisture to the area and soothe the skin. Apply a sterile adhesive bandage to reduce the risk of infection on the weakened skin. You can take over the counter pain reliever for burn relief.

2. Be cognizant of the risk of infection on burn victims broken skin caused by a burn injury. If blisters appear, this indicates 2nd degree burns. If they break, the risk of infection increases. You still need to wash the area of the 2nd degree burns to remove the chemical. Only use a antibacterial burn ointment that specifically says it is safe for broken skin. If you have any doubt about the severity of your 2nd degree burns, ask your doctor for burn care; you don’t want to seal in the offending chemical with a layer of oil based cream. For burn relief you can take over the counter pain reliever for chemical burns. Apply a sterile adhesive bandage to reduce the risk of infection on the weakened skin of the 2nd degree burns.

3. If a second degree burn covers a large area of a burn victims body, seek medical attention before you apply any burn ointment. A doctor might prescribe antibiotics for burn care to prevent infection that enters from the chemical burns injury site.

4. If the chemical burns injures are deep or charred, burn victims might experience less pain. This is indicative of 3rd degree burns, which is more severe. Skip the burn ointment and seek medical attention immediately for professional burn care on 3rd degree burns. You do not want to take a risk with 3rd degree burns because the nerves have already been damaged, the burn victim could go into shock, and permanent damage or death can result.