posted by
palfrey at 10:55pm on 08/03/2005
Ow. This happened last night, with me doing some cooking. I turned the chop, and managed to splash a whole large bunch of hot oil on my hand. This hurts. Lots. Stick hand under very cold tap for 5 minutes (proceeding somehow to switch off the gas while doing so), then realise that I'm not quite sure what to do with hot oil and decide to go upstairs and ask Sabine if she knows. She apparently has a solution, which consists of my going back downstairs for another 5 minutes then she'll be down to put honey on it. Sounded a bit silly to me, but I was willing go with pretty much anything at that point. So I'm standing there with one hand partially covered in honey, and the other one underneath to catch the drips, and it appears to be somewhat working. For a bit. Then the pain gets a whole bunch worse, and we're out of clues. Sabine decides to call her mother (they're in constant contact) and the mother advises we go to a doctor.
Now, dumbass me *still* hasn't gotten around to finding a 'huisarts' (rough translation: house doctor, somewhat similar to a GP), so we get a lift from Navid (another housemate) to the hospital, who proceed to note it's not that bad and direct me towards the emergency doctor prefab-hut thing next to the hospital. Fill in form, wait 15 minutes and then eventually I get to see a doctor, by which time the pain has gotten pretty darn bad. She has a look at the hand, makes sure I can still move it, then soaks some little pad things in water, and drapes them over my hand. I'm advised to keep it cold, not to pop the blisters when they form, and put some antibacterial salve on it once they do pop. Humph. Well, at least the pain has gotten better. We go home, and I spend the rest of the evening camped in front of the telly, as I need to resoak the darn pads in cold water every ten minutes or the pain gets very bad. I somehow manage to eventually get some sleep, with a cold water bowl sitting next to my bed. By this morning, it's better. Not much pain unless it's touched, no need for the cold water and I can eventually type. Which is good, but it does mean I can't get out of going to do the lab supervision this morning....
For the morbidly curious, here's a pic of my hand tonight

Now, dumbass me *still* hasn't gotten around to finding a 'huisarts' (rough translation: house doctor, somewhat similar to a GP), so we get a lift from Navid (another housemate) to the hospital, who proceed to note it's not that bad and direct me towards the emergency doctor prefab-hut thing next to the hospital. Fill in form, wait 15 minutes and then eventually I get to see a doctor, by which time the pain has gotten pretty darn bad. She has a look at the hand, makes sure I can still move it, then soaks some little pad things in water, and drapes them over my hand. I'm advised to keep it cold, not to pop the blisters when they form, and put some antibacterial salve on it once they do pop. Humph. Well, at least the pain has gotten better. We go home, and I spend the rest of the evening camped in front of the telly, as I need to resoak the darn pads in cold water every ten minutes or the pain gets very bad. I somehow manage to eventually get some sleep, with a cold water bowl sitting next to my bed. By this morning, it's better. Not much pain unless it's touched, no need for the cold water and I can eventually type. Which is good, but it does mean I can't get out of going to do the lab supervision this morning....
For the morbidly curious, here's a pic of my hand tonight
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I've also been told at least 20min under cold tap (ie til your hand is frozen!) & never put anything on them... traps in the heat & "your skin continues to cook" as we were once told :s
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The point of the honey is that it's a very good antiseptic for burns, but shouldn't be put on until the wound is 'cold', for the reasons Omy mentioned. Once it has cooled down (like today), if you can get your mits on some Calendula ointment (dunno how they are on herbalists over there) that cleared up a nasty burn I got incredibly quickly, didn't even scar. Alternatively, Savlon is a good second because it's not greasy (important with burns) and it does encourage skin regeneration as well as being antiseptic. If, when it does start to scab up, it does look like it's going to leave a mark, E45 will help reduce that.
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I recommend taking a first aid course. The hand you save may be your own. ;)
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