I was reading "The 20 Best Medicines for Men" at Men's Health. They recommend Solarcaine for burns. Okay, fine. I bought a 3 oz. pressurized aerosol can.

That got me thinking. I really shouldn't take this on a plane. And maybe I want something much lighter to actually carry with me every day. What would be a good substitute, say, in a very small plastic bottle with a pump sprayer?

Also, I'm trying to back away from store-bought first-aid kits and go with first-aid items I buy myself. I like the idea of a spray antisceptic. No creams or ointments to rub in. No contact with already irritated wound areas. What would you folks recommend?

-- Craig

Burnaway Plus

You can find a couple of other sting and rash relief items there.

Oops... Missed the bit about a preference for spray. Nevermind...

Sorry about that! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Best stuff for burn care is water jel...

http://www.waterjel.com/

If ya want I can send you few pockets to try out if ya live in the US. I have some left overs which expire in Oct 2006.

Polak187,

Ditto on the Water-Jel! We had a boy burn his hand on a hot rock from a campfire and the spray did not help much. My son burned his hand on the glass of a propane lantern. The Burn-Jel did the trick. It has a different chemical than the spray. The burn treatment is the one area that the 20 best medicines is wrong!

Buy it at REI.

Good stuff!

Has anyone purchased Burnaway Plus? I tried, got an automated e-mail response acknowledging my order, then nothing. Follow up e-mails were also ignored. Anyone have a similar experience?

Pre-emptive thanks to responders <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I had the exact same (bad) experience with George Townsend & Company (Burnaway Plus). I eventually went with Fruit of the Earth 100% Aloe Vera Gel...no alcohol, unlike some Aloe Vera gels.

Re: Martin's Burnaway Plus

I've not tried ordering Burnaway Plus online, so I can't help out there, sorry. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I can try and find out where my brother-in-law got his from if you're still interested though. He's not the type to shop online for something specific like that so I'm guessing some pharmacy or store or other out there stocks it.

I live right here in the good ole US of A. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The weird thing is, in the past six months or so, the people around me (not me!) in daily life have been suffering minor burns -- including my wife. And I don't have anything to treat such wounds.

I'm not a medic or anything, but I seem to be the "Go To" guy for first aid and flashlights and cutting tools and stuff like that. So I figured I'd better have something on hand to treat minor burns, since everyone around me is burning themselves!

It's very odd. I don't know what to make of it. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

What the heck is water jel? I never heard of it.

-- Craig

Send me your addy and I will send you a package with Burn Jel.

I will double ditto the Water Jel.

Pete

My address is on its way. Thank you.

-- Craig

Thanks for the link!

Agreed water gel is great, safe and does cool on contact.
some other products are silvadene, foille ointment (does hold heat though regarding new burns), proderma burn gel, tender's after burn gel, and lastly some uses of tea tree oil can be used post burn to aid in healing (not immediately after a burn)

I’m afraid I have been part of misleading the readers about burn treatment. Water-Jel Burn Jel is wonderful but there is a reason:

The Web article Men’s Health listed “The 20 Best Medicines for Men.” They listed Solarcaine as their best choice. This has 20% Benzocaine. REI sells a spray called “Burn Spray” that also has Benzocaine. It does not work very well. There was a boy that burned his hand on a campfire rock. Also one of my sons burned his hand and I used this spray and they both said it did not help much.

Water Jel Burn Jel has 2% Lidocaine HCL. I used this on my sons and it worked great. My big first-aid kit also has a pump bottle of “burn spray” that is also 2% Lidocaine. I also used this on one of my sons on a different occasion. This also worked great.

Any “burn” product with Benzocaine will not work well. Any “burn” product with Lidocaine will work very well.

The point I wanted to make: use Lidocaine for burns.

Does Lidocaine realy speed up the healing, or is this just pain relief ?

Now that's interesting. And somewhat confusing. This is where I got my information: The 20 Best Medicines for Men

Read what it says under "BURNS"

-- Craig

I'm aware of only pain reducing qualities. And also if you think about it: you aint plucking peeling skin on the wound or touching it due to itching or pain which means that the wound/burn stays clean therfore it heals faster.

Lidocaine is only for the immediate pain.

Here is what the article says about lidocaine:

"benzocaine may be safer than other anesthetics, such as lidocaine, which can cause side effects, such as blurry vision and dizziness, says Michael Oszko, Pharm.D., an associate professor at the University of Kansas. "

We have not experienced any blurry vision or dizziness. It sure does work better!

Is that doctor's comment about topical application, like a spray? If it was, then that's certainly surprising news to me.

<img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Curiously, I ordered the Burnaway online within the last two months and received immediate shipment. No problem.
Jon Davis

I was a medic a an industrial plant. We had many occasions to use burn gel and it is great stuff. The however, we found that after you cool the burn with water, dry it off (as best as you can) then apply the burn gel. The pain releif seems to last longer. Also if you can get an Rx for silvadene, do so! Don't use it though on pregnant women. It is accually absorbed through the skin.

Does silvadene help soothe the burn or increase healing? I know it's a potent antimicrobial used for burns, and I have some in my FAK, but I always figured I'd just use it for major burns, and stick to lidocaine and burn gel, and maybe some triple antibiotic ointment for the minor stuff.

By the way, someone near the top of this thread mentioned alcohol as an antiseptic, that's a really bad idea unless you're in a survival situation and that's all you have. Alcohol actually damages the tissue and kills cells, so should never be used on open wounds. I'm personally a fan of benzalkonium chloride, which is very effective and stingless, or iodine if you want something stronger.

Silver sulfadine.

Two years ago, idiot me was out at what I THOUGHT was a long-dead burn pit. I had a gas can with a small amount of stale gas in it, a huge pile of brush to burn....
So I was pouring the old gas out of the plastic can, and (you guessed it), WHOOSH-BOOOOOOM. My left shoulder, down my back and up to my hair were on fire, I dropped, rolled and rolled (right over some wild rose, as it turns out), and ran into the house fully dressed and got into the shower.
I had pretty bad burns, the skin came off in sheets, so I drove myself to the doctor's office. They cleaned the would and then gave me this tub of Silver Sulfadene.
I kid you not, I was able to use my arms and shoulder the next day, and in two weeks, the skin, pink and new, had grown back. I have slight scarring, it was only a 2nd degree burn, but that stuff was amazing. That's an A#1 part of ALL my first aid kids, LTS kits and so forth.

It's an old sulfer drug compound, modernized to a degree, but basiclly the same stuff as used in WW 1

it felt GOOD to rub on the burn. It was cool, it was soothing, it was not cold and shocking.

Wow, nasty sounding accident with the gas can. Glad that turned out all right. But certainly a glowing, real life testimonial for Silvadene.

A couple cautions, though. Epirider mentioned this earlier, but don't give to pregnant women since it can lead to complications at birth. It can probably show up in breast milk, too. Also, as you mentioned, it is a sulfa derivative, so don't give it to anyone who is allergic to sulfa drugs because it can be absorbed through the skin, especially burned skin. This last reason would personally make me hesistant to carry in a take-along FAK that might be used on friends or strangers without thinking unless I taped a "NO SULFA ALLERGY!" or other warning on the container.

Actually, I guess Silvadene is more of a secondary treatment that would be left at home, but even then, I would probably want to make the sulfa warning prominent since it is potentially fatal. (Should I add a big warning to my jar of Skippy peanut butter, too? How about that poor teenage girl who died from kissing her boyfriend last week after he had a peanut butter sandwich nine hours earlier. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> )

Amazing the things we do to ourselves after we're well past 30 and when we think we're "all growed up."

Brings to mind something my late father used to tell me after he rescued me from some self-inflicted mishap: "Try to use your head for something other than a hatrack." And the always famous, "You have a good head on your shoulders. Try to use it more often."

-- Craig