In medicine, burns are the destruction of body tissue by extremes of temperature, corrosive chemicals, electricity, or radiation. First-degree burns may cause reddening; second-degree burns cause blistering and irritation but usually heal spontaneously; third-degree burns are disfiguring and may be life-threatening. Burns cause plasma, the fluid component of the blood, to leak from the blood vessels, and it is this loss of circulating fluid that engenders shock. Emergency treatment is needed for third-degree burns in order to replace the fluid volume, prevent infection (a serious threat to the severely burned), and reduce the pain. Plastic, or reconstructive, surgery, including skin grafting, may be required to compensate for damaged tissue and minimize disfigurement. If a skin graft is necessary, dead tissue must be removed from a burn (a process known as debridement) so that the patient's blood supply can nourish the graft.
In 1995, doctors in the United States found that severe burns victims recovered quicker if given insulin. Their grafts healed after an average of 4.7 days, compared with the usual 6.5. In 1996, a new treatment, Integra, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Integra is an artificial skin made of purified collagen and shark cartilage. It forms lattice structures similar to dermis and enables the patient's own skin to regenerate. It also protects the burned area from loss of fluid and exposure to infection. (Jordan & Barillo 98)
Full-thickness burns (also called third-degree burns) cause damage to all layers of the skin. The burned skin looks white or charred. These burns may cause little or no pain if nerves are damaged. Full-thickness burns--heal only at the edges by scarring without skin grafts. A skin graft is a very thin layer of skin that is cut from an unburned area and put on a badly burned area. Third-degree burns involve destruction of all skin elements with coagulation of the subdermal plexus.............
