• Can any medics advise on the following. 8 year old burned his arm on a hob on Wednesday evening, and a small blister came up. He was treated in a&e, with the burn cleaned and a burn dressing applied. We visited a&e outpatients this morning for follow up, and the burn was cleaned, with top layer of skin coming off, and a new dressing applied. No signs of infection, and a further appointment set for Monday.

    My question (that I forgot to ask at the appointment) is what is the likely healing time? He has a swimming course booked in the holidays that starts a week on Monday (11 days away) and we don't know whether to cancel or rearrange. We are going on holiday in 17 days, by which time I hope it will be definitely healed. Any advice?

  • I suspect that will not have fully healed by 11 days and a public pool wouldn't be my number one place for a scabby wound.

    Is he being offered a Plastics review? When I was on my Plastics rotation it was the hospital policy that all paeds burns were followed up in their clinic - your hospital's policy may be different obviously but worth checking.

    It will depend on your risk aversion/level of pragmatism as to whether you want to rearrange the swim course. They may not even allow children with healing wounds?

    You can get waterproof dressings and a non-adherent intermediate layer which will stop the scab sticking. Check waterproofness daily and reapply if necessary.

    Realistically the answer you'll get over the internet will likely be more cautious or less definitive than one in a F2F clinic, as being unable to assess the patient and healing trajectory is a severely limiting factor (as with all questions in the thread).

  • Thanks. All very helpful.

    He hasn't been offered a plastics review. What does that mean? He is back in for review on Monday so will ask about it then.

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