 Hey everybody, Dr. O here. Let's talk about burns. So a burn is going to be when skin is damaged by heat, electricity, chemicals, radiation, those kind of things. So what are the problems with burns? Two key problems. Number one, burns destroy intact skin and intact skin keeps pathogens out so that one of the biggest risks with a burn patient is infection because the physical barrier is now gone so microbes can easily get into somebody. And number two is skin is needed to hold water in. So even more importantly is dehydration at the beginning anyways. So without skin, you're going to see a massive fluid loss which can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, some renal failure, circulatory failure, all these things can be fatal. So that's the two key reasons you don't want to see a burn. Is it lets pathogens in so it can lead to infection and it lets water out which can lead to serious dehydration. You see here with this picture, so burns, this is called the rule of nines when you're looking at what percent of someone's body has been burned. So these are going to be going to be based on nines. So you see the head and neck is 9%. Each limb is going to be 9%. The trunk is 30%. Genotype is 1%. Doesn't follow that rule. Then each lower limb is going to be 18% apiece. So when you talk about what percent of a body has been burned, use these rule, the rule of nines. The other key thing to note with burns is what degree of severity each is. So a first degree burn is a superficial burn that's only going to affect the epidermis. This will be like a mild sunburn. A second degree burn is going to impact the epidermis and some of the dermis. This is going to be like if you have a sunburn that's worse leading to some swelling, painful blistering of the skin. But it will heal on its own in two or three weeks. Third degree burns, they're going to extend through the epidermis and the dermis and they're even going to impact the sensory nerve endings in the area. These are serious burns. They can be red, white, black. They will need medical attention. Without medical attention, they're going to heal very, very slowly. So third degree burns, they impact the entire epidermis and dermis. Fourth degree burns are going to be like a third degree burn. They're going to impact the entire epidermis and dermis and then even underlying tissues like muscle and bone. So fourth degree are going to be the most serious. As odd as it seems, third and fourth degree burns are also often not painless because if you severed, you've damaged the sensory receptors. So there might not be a lot of pain with a third or fourth degree burn. But these full thickness burns, if you've destroyed all the epidermis and the dermis and the underlying tissue, they're not going to heal on their own. You're going to have to because the tissue that's normally needed to repair skin is going to be destroyed as well. So they're going to need to be debrided. You got to get rid of all that tissue, possibly even amputations, skin grafts, these types of things. So if a burn is thick enough, it might not hurt, but it also will not be able to heal on its own. All right, so that is burns, why they're so dangerous, the rule of nine and then the degree of severity of burns. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.