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.