Second degree burn on baby's palm

[Mommyintraining2]

Sunday evening, 15 month old DD toddled past the open safety gate and put her hand on top of the hot woodstove. The ER doc diagnosed her with second degree burns and advised a cream with silver and changing the dressing twice daily, as well as Loratab every 4-6 hours for pain.

Monday morning when I went to change the bandages, her entire palm was one big blister. It looks like she is holding a small apple. The skin is tight around her fingers. No sign of infection so far.

The ER doc said to take her for a follow-up with her ped on Tuesday and then a surgeon on Thursday to assess damage and see if she would need to go to a burn unit for further assistance. My challenge is there are NO peds that I trust in this small area. And the surgeon he recommended has horrible ratings (I looked him up on healthgrades.com). How serious should I take going to someone whom I can truly trust? I'm willing to travel, but having two other small children, I only want to do it if necessary. I don't want to overreact if this burn is something that any old doc can diagnose. Please, if anyone has experience or recommendations, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and I did find a local surgeon with excellent ratings and feedback. Not sure if he knows much about burns, but I'm planning on calling his office today.

[Sharon, RN]

Mommyintraining,

My dh used to be a burn ICU nurse.

I read him your post. He said that you need expert advice, and this is was he suggested. He said that you need to find a burncenter (not a burn unit, which is usually just a few beds in the hospital dedicated to low-acuity burns) close to you and get them to see to see the burn. However, I don't know where you live, and there are not many in the country. If you aren't near a burn center, call the closest one even if you're several states away. Just call the hospital, ask for the burn center, and as to speak to the charge nurse. (Avoid doing this between 7-8 am or pm, which is shift change.)

In the mean time, keep the silvadene or thermazine on. Don't pop the blister (it keeps the wound sterile), but it will pop on it's own. If this happens, check the tissue underneath. If the tissue is white, she may need surgery. If the tissue is pink with "budding" (fine red/pink dots) then it's a good sign.

Unless a doctor is at a burn center, they are usually not well-versed in burn care. (For example, they don't use the terms 1st degree, 2nd degree, etc really anymore. It's superficial burn, partial thickness burn, full thickness burn, etc.)

Try to get her to keep moving her fingers around. If it appears that the baby has no feeling in her fingers (doesn't respond to touch/pain), go straight back to the ER. This is an emergency.

He says that children to often heal faster than adults, so it's not all doom and gloom! Can you post a pic for him to see? If you prefer, just pm me and I'll give you my e-mail address and you can send me a pic there.

Good luck momma! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Check out this website for info: www.ameriburn.org

[Sharon, RN]

here is the contact info for every burn center in the nation just find the one closest to you. http://www.ameriburn.org/BCRD8-20-09.pdf

[Mommyintraining2]

Thank you so much. Baby is sleeping but I will check her fingers when she wakes up and send pics if possible. Will also call burn center. Thank you to your husband too!!!

[KatWrangler]

[zoesmomma4]

my babygirl is 15mos old she touched the palm of her hand on the electric stove and has a burn that is now blistered which extends from the bottom of her thumb across her palm to the bottom of her ring finger. its about 1/2 cm thick. My mother in law is a nurse at childrens hospital and says to put zinc oxide on it. Has any one else ever heard of this method and how long might the blisters be present and healing time to expect?

[Mommyintraining2]

I'm so sorry your poor baby and you are going through this.  It was awful for me. (I am the original poster of this thread).  Now my daughter is 4 years old with no scarring or memory of the burn, although she likes me to tell the story so she can repeat it.

So I don't know about zinc oxide.  We went ahead and took her to a local doctor who treated skin issues to see if he felt we should go to a burn center.  We had a week to decide because the concern was that if it didnt heal correctly it could affect the use of her hand, constricting the skin as it healed and scarred.  So he said to go ahead and have it checked out.  The burn center re-wrapped the blistered hand and told us to wash it daily with mild soap and apply the silver creme (can't remember the name).  So we did that for about a week.  Then I researched manuka honey and switched to using that.  It was amazing and the local doctor was impressed.  I honestly cannot remember how long it took for it to heal but it seems we were cleaning it, honeying it, and bandaging it daily for about 3 to 4 weeks.  It took her awhile to start using her hand just because she had babied it for so long.  But we gave her lots of opportunities and eventually she started using it to grab things again.

So that's what I can remember from our experience.  Please feel free to post or PM me if you have any more questions.  Oh, and I encourage you to google Manuka Honey as a healing agent.  It's an amazing thing.  We still use it for any kind of open wounds and owies!