We have all been burned at some point in our lives. Whether we are talking about being burned on the stove, suffering a moderate to severe sunburn or actually being badly burned by fire or electricity, we know just how painful burn injuries can be. For the most part, our experiences are limited to fairly mild burns to a small area of our body. Unfortunately, some workers are not that lucky. There are few things more painful or serious than serious burn injuries.
Doctors grade burns according to the severity. We are usually dealing with the issue of the depth of the burn, as measured in degrees, and the size of the burn on a patient’s body, as measured in a percentage. Most people have heard of first, second and third-degree burns. A first-degree burn is something like a mild sunburn that may blister or peel, and a third degree burn involves the destruction all dermal (skin) layers as well as some muscle beneath. However, there is what are known to doctors as fourth-degree burns that involve full thickness destruction. This means that the burn goes through all layers of skin and then destroys bone and other tissues. If a fourth-degree burn is to a large area of the injured worker, the result is often fatal. Even if the burn does not kill the injured worker, the body will be very susceptible to staph and other secondary infections, because the skin is the body’s best defense to bacteria and many viruses.
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