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