How to treat a burned finger?

[elisent]

Last night I smelled something burning and realized one of my kids put their glass dinner plate on a hot stove burner. Because I am a genius, I picked it up and burned the side of my index finger. I immediately put it under cold running water for ten minutes or so. My husband was still in the kitchen and said the plate was so hot it shattered when it started to cool down! He put a bandaid on my finger and then I put an ice pack on it for the rest of the night. Anytime it wasn't on the icepack it really hurt.

Today it doesn't hurt at all but all the nerves are dead in the burned area. There are no blisters and it is white.

Is there anything natural I can put on it to promote healing or prevent infection?

[Aquafina]

HUM I am so sorry for you burns really hurt (HUGS).... When I burned my hand awhile back I used lavender,but I found what really speeded up the healing and made it feel better was Tea Tree Oil,it stung a little,and was stinky but it sure helped.....

[MKury]

I burned my middle, ring, and pinky finger today pouring some water in a hot pan... the steam immediately blistered everything from my knuckles up- so I totally feel your pain. I am going to try the tee tree oil, but I am taking about 800 IU of Vitamin E per day and putting aloe on it. I wish I could find an aloe plant, but am using the green stuff from Walgreens. It is terrible!!! I constantly am shoving it into an ice water bath!!

Any other ideas for speedy healing would be awesome!!

[Jojo F.]

I'm still nursing my two burnt fingers. I did the lavender oil, aloe gel, and now raw honey. They are almost healed

[Meiri]

Today it doesn't hurt at all but all the nerves are dead in the burned area. There are no blisters and it is white.

You are describing a Third Degree burn there, and considering that it's on your hand (which you wish to retain full flexible use of), I recommend that you at least discuss its treatment with a doctor or nurse before applying anything to it.

When in EMT training, I recall the stories of the ER nurses telling patients who'd applied butter (which thankfully no one here suggested) "you put it on, You take it off." as they hand the patient a scrub brush.

With Third Degree burns, the risk of infection and other long term issues is higher than with Second (blisters and pain) or First (redness and pain). That skin is now dead for one thing. It needs more than mere First Aid.

[MKury]

Okay, so after treating my burns today by myself and realizing that I might should check out WebMD, I did. It says NOT to put ice or ice water on the burns bc it can cause tissue damage!- I have had my fingers in iced water all day- about 1/4 ice and the rest water. How stupid can I be? Have I done irreparable damage now?

[Gitti]

Get yourself an Aloe Plant and cut off a bit every day several times and put the pulp from the inside on the finger.

[Meiri]

At Third Degree, IMNSHO, it's beyond home remedy. Please speak to someone with actual training. Even it it's just by phone.

The danger with burns is infection, which can be prevented.
The danger, if memory serves, with 3rd degree burns is also scarring, which could result in loss of flexibility in your finger.

If the burn was just 1st or 2nd (in which the blisters keep germs out), I'd be all over the aloe treatment (though not any of the oil suggestions), but yours is not one of those.

I've used ice water on minor burns without permanent damage. Yours is not in that catagory.

[2busy2clean]

goggle honey and burns, if you need to.
But if I remember right, honey beat out nitrofurazine in comparasion studies, and nitrofurazine is what the hospitals use on third degree burns.

[Mosaic]

I'm not sure how natural these are because this was a long time ago, but I burned my hand on the element of the stove once and it turned white immediately. I bought these gel bandages at a drug store... they remind me of those teeth whitening gel strips only larger, and you can put them on the burn and affix them using medical tape. They kept the burn moist so that it didn't hurt and so it could heal.

For the record, I wore those things 100% of the time for a whole month, and eventually I reacted to the gel and got all itchy all around the burn, so I wore them off&on after that. It did eventually heal up, but I'm not sure I would do that again if I had the chance because it took SO long to heal. I agree that you probably want someone to look at it because unlike more minor burns, that sucker is going to hurt for a long time.

(and for future reference, cold water is fine/recommended but ice is not)

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by MKury

I burned my middle, ring, and pinky finger today pouring some water in a hot pan... the steam immediately blistered everything from my knuckles up- so I totally feel your pain. I am going to try the tee tree oil, but I am taking about 800 IU of Vitamin E per day and putting aloe on it. I wish I could find an aloe plant, but am using the green stuff from Walgreens. It is terrible!!! I constantly am shoving it into an ice water bath!!

Any other ideas for speedy healing would be awesome!!

If it is still painful, tamari or soy sauce really helps with the pain. I don't know about applying it later to promote healing, but immediately after it really helps. I use aloe after the fact.

[Meiri]

So how is it? What did you end up doing for it?

I'll have to keep the honey treatment in mind, though for a serious burn, Silvadene (and I've seen silver promoted enough around here) is excellent. It's by prescription only though.

[BubbleMa]

I was going to say that about ice too. That's a no no. I'm not sure why I know that, since I have no medical training. Must've seen it on tv or something. lol

I vividly remember (when I was little) my aunt burning her hand w/ steam as she opened the lid of a pan. She cut a raw potato and put it on the burn. Something about the startch pulling the heat out, or something.

Of course, your burn sounds much worse. If you haven't already, I suggest a Dr. And I'm not one to do that much.

[elisent]

So far I've just been leaving it alone and keeping my hands clean. It seems to be all right. I may buy some tea tree oil later today to help keep out infection.

I would love to go to the doctor but we can't afford private insurance for DH and I so I'll wait first and see if it seems to be getting better or worse. I don't think it's too deep and it's just a half-inch thick line on the side of my finger from the tip to the first joint so I'm hoping it will eventually regenerate itself.

[elisent]

I just wanted to update that after a little more than a week the skin peeled off leaving a pink layer of what I hoped was new skin underneath. Now it's been over two weeks and the finger definitely looks better. The new skin is almost the same color as the rest of the finger although a bit shinier and I have sensation there now. Yay!