Using Cold Applications for First Aid Treatment

First-aider reports for everyone. Back in 1966, one magazine brought to public attention the value of cold for burns. Quoting Drs. Omero S. Iung and Franklin V. Wade, it explained: "When a burn occurs, not all the damage is produced at once. The pathological process continues. . . . We believe that the cold application can slow down and even stop this sequence of events."

Also in that magazine, Dr. Stephen R. Lewis' successful method of treating burns was reported. He said: "Our general plan on the small burn where it involves just a hand or lower extremity is to simply put them in ice water for fifteen minutes. This should relieve the pain and generally does. . . . Take them out in fifteen minutes, and put them back in and out, until the pain completely disappears out of ice water. This usually occurs within a period of about three hours using ice."

In the months after that article was published, We received letters from appreciative readers who had applied this treatment with beneficial results. A mother from California wrote:

"On a Sunday my son decided to weld the shock absorbers on his car. The hydraulic cylinders got too hot and exploded, covering the whole top of his body with boiling oil. My first thought was that article. I remembered that cold water was the best, so while my husband kept running cold water over him, I looked the article over quickly to verify it. Then I called the doctor. . . .

"He didn't give me any other suggestions as to treatment. . . . So we kept putting the ice-cold towels on him, as he was still in shock and the heat was radiating from him so much that the towels would be hot in a minute. To make a long story short, the next day he looked horrible, with huge blisters all over his face and arms. But in one week he had all new pink skin; it was unbelievable. I know the cold water had a lot to do with it."

Another letter received was from a couple in Michigan. The wife describes:

"As my husband was mixing the last batch of mashed potatoes on Sunday [during a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses], he spilled scalding water on his chest, face and arm. His upper clothing was removed and the brothers, using the information in that article on burns, packed ice on the burned area. They kept this up for quite a period of time. I drove him home and continued the ice and cold-water treatment until the pain left. All that was left for the doctor to do was check the area."

The quick application of the cold evidently arrests the progress of burns and prevents them from developing into deeper, more serious wounds. As Dr. Shulman wrote: "My experience indicates that, whatever the subsequent management may be, those patients who receive initial ice water treatment fare better than those who do not."

Source: Pocket First Aid by British Red Cross and St Johns Ambulance