I'm looking for a way of treating minor burns in the field. I'm referring to the nuisance type (similar to sunburn) where there isn't any obvious skin damage, just redness and that annoying, distracting pain.

There seems to be a bit of disagreement as to the best treatment. The one consistent bit of advice is to run cold water over the area for 10 or fifteen minutes or to apply cold cloth. Sometimes this just isn't possible.

So, has anyone had any luck with any gel products, like aloe vera with lidocaine or hydrocortisone cream? I see that the Burn Free (tm) gel product has no active ingredients and is intended as a substitute for the running water. Anyone have any good experiences with this product?

I thought that hydrocortisone cream was for treating some skin problems like e.g. eczema. Never heard of it for treating burns.

for my two cents worth cool compresses R the way to go we get people in the ER who use everything from butter to gels and we end up wiping the stuff off just to treat the burns baby wipes R another way to go I keep them in my Trauma FAK in the trunk of my BOC (bug out car)
Mike <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Sir, I use water-jel (tm, same as Burn Free) on all burns. It's the best product that's available for burns and I highly reccommend it.
I use both the impregnated gauze pads, as the 30ml flacon.
It's been used a lot by me for over 5 years with lots of different burn's and sunburns, both minor and mayor.

Although it's relatively expensive, it's a absolute must for every FAK and/or household.

Great stuff!!

Burns too, apparently.

Medicine Net under "Uses".

*edit* Oops. The above link goes to Pramoxine/Hydrocortisone with the Pramoxine doing the pain numbing, but I have seen 1% hydrocortisone ointment recommended (rightly or not) for sunburn.

Hydrocortizone is used for redness, swelling, and itch. I dont think it would do anything for pain or cooling relief. Something with menthol in it would help cool.
I have a tube of Walgreens brand Aloe Vera Cooling Gel in my hand right now. It states it releives and soothes pain from sunburn, minor burns, cuts, scrapes, skin irritations, and insect bites.
Cheap too @ 2 for $5.

ditto!

Don't leave home without it! Get it at REI. Burn-jel web page

I'll second that. I keep a supply of Water-Gel in the kit, and when my daughter fell onto the wood stove, we quickly and effectively cooled the 2nd degree burn with it. We use it on fire calls, and I carry it in all my vehicles.

I keep some Solarcaine Burn Relief Aloe Extra Gel with me. It contains Lidocaine HCl and is for instant pain relief. It cools, moisturizes and relieves itch. BUT it has its limitations and is not for use in large quantities and on raw or blistered areas. I also have used it to substitute as an aftershave when outdoors.

It states it can be used ONLY externally for: minor skin irritations, sunburn, minor cuts, minor burns, scrapes, and insect bites.

Plain old aloe works pretty well. I used to have a huge aloe plant that you could break a spine/leaf off and squeeze the goo out of and it was amazing. The aloe with lidocaine is even better. As someone mentioned, these are only for minor burns/sunburns.

I haven't tried the burn gel, but I'm going to get some. I've heard them recommended by many people. A lot more convenient to carry than an aloe plant, too.

Kevin B.

There are two type of Water Jel, one is for minor burns, the other is good for all types of burns.

The packaging looks nearly the same, so you need to look close.

The first is: Burn Jel, and is for the type of minor burns you describe.








The other is Burn Dressing, which is a sterile gel soaked dressing thats good for 1st through 3rd degree burns.



You of course would never want to put Burn Jel on a serious burn.

Totally agree! Fresh Aloe is by far the best treatment for any kind of minor burns. Aloe vera gels that are sold in stores are not as effective since active ingredients are broken down rapidly following the leaf removal from the Aloe plant. The trick is to squeeze the goo out of the aloe leaf onto the burn asap before the tissue damage takes place. This approach is obviously not practical in the field.

Burn Jel has lidocaine in it, in addition to water soluble gel that dissipates heat. So if anyone is allergic to lidocaine don't use it. IMO this is a better product since it provides immediate pain relief as well.
Burn Free does not have any "active" ingredients, just the gelling agents with water and some Tea Tree oil (natural antiseptic). It acts by cooling the burned skin.

I used Burn Jel when my wife got burned by liquified cheese that dripped from an overheated sandwich on her hand. As she reported the burn was extremely painfull, but after Burn Jel (one with lidocaine) was applied, pain decreased by something like 70%.

I used Burn Free on a minor sunburn with good results.

Depending upon the severity and percentage of the body burned, 2nd and 3rd degree burns are often treated with dry sterile dressings/sheeting. The use of BURN DRESSINGs for substantial (in terms of body surface area) 2nd and 3rd degree burns may be contraindicated, as they may induce hypothermia due to the body’s decreased ability to thremoregulate.

Pete

Thanks to all for the replies. Looks like I'll try one of the BurnFree or BurnJel products.

I have tried the Aloe w/ Lidocaine , didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference, but then again, the bottle I had at home was probably a couple of years old at that point.

Advice concerning use of cold compresses and not applying any sort of gel or cream to more serious burns has not gone unheeded.

From what I understand, it's ok to apply an antibiotic ointment to a second or third degree burn after some amount of time has elapsed (on the order of a day) to prevent infection. Any of the professionals here have an opinion on this?

Burn Jel is designed for minor burns. If you read the package, it says:

"Do not use in large quantities, particularly over raw or blistered areas."

My understanding is that mostly for pain relief and some cooling, but the ingredients aren't appropriate for contact with severely damaged tissue.

I happened to be in my med office and asked my doc who said that absorption ratio of meds thru severe burn is much higher and that could lead to lidocaine toxicity. Lidocaine is also used as a cardiac drug that's why the caution.

Anyone knows any better or different?

In general, server burns of significant partial or full thickness burns, destroy the sensory nerves in the skin, so while very serious, are not always that painful. Pain can and does occur around the edges of the burn (3rd degree), in such cases, pain relief with medication such as morphine is preferable. In these cases, topical applications of medications containing lidocaine have very limited value and would have to be scrubbed away for definitive treatment.

Full and partial burns are life threatening, requiring specialized care such as debriding, surgical incision of the severely burn skin to allow for swelling, specialized medications for infection control, skin grafting and other medical procedures.

Burns, even 1st degree to the face, groin, circumvential around limbs and large surface areas are serious and require rapid and specialized medical care.

Pete

So what you are saying is, if they are in shock, adding painkillers is bad.

Hey, wait, isn't that the SOP? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One thing to keep in mind is the number of people who are allergic to the entire -caine family of meds. According to some things I've read, we are increasing.

Yep, another vote for Burn Free. Just saved my neck from a skin peeler this weekend! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />