Third Degree Burns

Any burn should be considered a serious injury and should be watched carefully for infection and skin changes around the burn area.  The medical profession rates burns according to their severity and the burns considered the most severe and the most damaging are third degree burns. This burn damages the top layer of skin and then continues through to damage the entire layer underneath which is known as the dermis.  Actually the person receiving this burn type will not feel pain in the beginning as the burn has gone through to the nerve endings and destroyed them.  If a person is burned and is feeling no pain they need to be rushed to a medical center right away for treatment.

Third degree burns are caused by most of the things that cause all burns, scalding water, fire, electrical burns, holding a hot object and certain chemicals can burn.  The symptoms of this higher degree of burn are swelling, dry and leathery skin and also black, white, brown or yellow skin.  Of course as mentioned above it is more than likely that the person burned will not feel pain directly after this type of burn, although might feel pain in other areas of their body with lesser degree burns.  It is important to reiterate that the treatment for severe burns is to get the injured person to professional medical treatment immediately.

The treatment that the hospital personnel will give to these burns depends on the location and severity of them.  A third degree burn is usually a scarring burn and the patient may eventually have to have surgery for skin grafting to save the areas with the serious burns.  Also is it wrong to think that these burns are never painful, as time goes on and treatment takes place these burns are very painful and the patient will probably be prescribed pain medication. 

Burns are unfortunately sometimes caused by the negligence of other people or corporations.  The after effect of these burns for patients is often severe disfigurement, inability to work and provide for a family and themselves.  There are exceptional medical costs involved as these burns may require several surgeries and relatively long hospital stays.  After all there will be a period of rehabilitation treatment.  This is a situation that a person or family does not have to suffer through alone.