Have you ever been playing on a trampoline when your skin has suddenly felt like it is burning? Has this feeling managed to ruin your fun? If so, you may have experienced a friction burn.
Friction burn is caused when skin rubs against a harsh material. They can be quite painful to experience.
Also, they can occur anywhere on your skin, frequently occurring on your hands, arms, or knees. Friction burns may be especially painful when they affect bony areas of your body.
Thankfully, I have compiled a method of treating these nasty friction burns.
If you do suffer a friction burn, it is recommended that you treat it immediately. This will prevent your injury from becoming infected or swollen.
How To Cure Minor Friction Burns
To begin, place your burn under a cold running tap. Not only will this feel soothing, but it will reduce swelling. Do this for a few minutes, until your burn hurts less.
Next, you will want to switch from cold water to warm water. This step is intended to clean your wound. You can also use soap for this, though I do not recommend using harsh soaps.
With warm water and soap, rub the burnt area for a while. This will stop first from entering your wound. If your friction burn was caused by a carpet or a trampoline, this will be particularly crucial since dirt can be trapped in both of these surfaces.
Once you have washed your friction burn, you will want to cover it. Cover the area in a dressing, gauze, or bandage. Do not cover it too tightly, so that your injury still has space to breathe. Additionally, loose coverings will be less painful.
If you are still experiencing pain after this, you can also use over-the-counter pain relief to numb the feeling. You can also use ointments on your burns to lessen the pain.
Make sure to take plenty of rest during your recovery. Change the dressings and apply more ointment every few days. Do not wear tight-fitting clothing around the area of your friction burn. Instead, I suggest choosing baggier clothes.
A blister may begin to appear as your friction burn heals. Please try to leave a blister alone.
Though it can be tempting to break your blister, this is just a natural bodily response to a burn. As a result, you should just leave it alone and let it work its magic.
Watch your burn daily to ensure that it is making progress and is healing.
How To Cure Severe Friction Burns
While you can treat minor friction burns at home, more serious cases will need to be dealt with by trained medical professionals. If your burn is large, I recommend quickly contacting a doctor.
Likewise, I advise doing this if you manage to burn the skin on your face or in a delicate area, such as your genitals. You will want to get these areas treated as rapidly as possible.
To determine whether you should call a doctor, you should also look at how deep the burn is. If it has managed to penetrate more than the first layer of your skin, it may not be treatable at home.
Sometimes, burns can bleed. Wait until you have cleaned this blood to determine the extent of the damage to your skin. Doctors will not only be able to treat your burn, but they can advise you as to which products to use.
If your at-home treatment has been unsuccessful or your pain has become more intense, you should seek medical advice. These may be signs that your friction burn was worse than you initially thought.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is much confusion surrounding the topic of friction burns. To help educate people, I have answered some of the most frequently asked questions.
How long do friction burns take to heal?
If you have suffered from a minor burn, it should only take between a few days and one week to heal. If you take significantly longer than this to heal, it may be worth visiting a doctor.
More severe burns will naturally take longer. Of course, the length of time that it takes to heal will not only depend on the severity of the wound, but also on the individual. Some wounds simply heal faster than others.
Why are friction burns so painful?
When your skin gets burned, heat has managed to destroy your skin cells. This can cause the damaged area to feel very painful, especially if a friction burn occurs on a sensitive area.
To stop them from being painful, you can take over-the-counter painkillers. Reacting quickly will also lessen the pain.
How to prevent friction burn?
It may not be completely possible to stop friction burns from occurring. However, the best method of doing this is to just be careful on trampoline and carpet surfaces.
Make sure that you are not rubbing your skin across them, especially not in a quick manner, since this will cause friction burns.
To further prevent this from taking place, you can cover your skin with clothes to create a barrier. Wear long-sleeved t-shirts and trousers instead of regular t-shirts and shorts.
Do friction burns require air to heal?
Yes, air can help your skin to heal from burns. This is partly why you should not cover burns too tightly with dressings.
Can you get friction burns from trampolines?
Yes, if you grate your skin against the surface of a trampoline, you can give yourself a friction burn. The friction created by your skin rubbing against the trampoline will create heat, thus damaging your skin. Luckily, friction burns caused by trampolines are often fairly minor.
Final Remarks
Friction burns can seriously ruin your fun. Fortunately, less severe instances can be easily treated and managed at home by following this guide.
For more serious burns, you will need to phone a doctor. In extreme circumstances, you may even need to phone a hospital.
To prevent friction burns from happening, please be careful. Do not let friction burns spoil your enjoyment of trampolines and other activities.