The following article offers some effective tips and home remedies for treating and preventing scars from minor burns…
Before learning the ways to prevent burn scars, it would help you to know that scars are not something to be scared of, as they are a part of the natural healing process. At the same time, there is no doubt about the fact that they can make the skin look very ugly. That’s why, one should be aware of ways to prevent and get rid of burn scars, as soon as possible.
Preventing and Treating Burns
An important thing to remember is that it is only minor burns which should be treated at home. Any severe burn, which looks deep or is more than three inches in diameter, should be strictly treated by a doctor.
# 1
If you get a burn, the first thing that you should do is to apply cold water to the affected skin. This will soothe your skin and reduce any kind of pain that you might be experiencing due to the burns. Follow this up by applying a paste made from water and turmeric on the affected area. Turmeric is a natural antiseptic and thus, will help the burn to heal faster. Usually, whatever creams and ointments that are available in the market to treat these scars, should be applied only once it has healed. So keep on applying this turmeric-water paste on the scar everyday, till it heals, as it speeds up the healing process.
# 2
Some studies show that instead of applying cold water on a fresh burn, keep it under running tap water for about ten to fifteen minutes. Follow this up by wiping the water from the skin and applying a sterile gauze dressing on the affected area. Keep on changing the bandages, every day, till the burn heals. Once it heals, apply an effective antibiotic ointment on the skin. This will prevent any kind of infection from occurring, which can otherwise lead to scarring.
# 3
If it’s a minor burn, then this home remedy can prove to be very effective, provided you apply it as soon as the burn occurs. Take an egg and break it. Separate the white part from the yolk. Next, take the egg white and place it directly on the affected skin. Let it remain there for about ten minutes. This will soothe your skin and at the same time, prevent it from scarring. However, take care to wash the skin area thoroughly after you remove the egg white. As eggs have bacteria, if you leave the egg white on for too long or if the burn is severe, it can worsen your skin condition!
# 4
In order to get rid of the scars that are already there, apply lemon juice on them everyday. Lemon juice is an astringent and applying it on the scars everyday will lighten them and almost make them invisible. Likewise, aloe vera gel and cocoa butter are known to have same effects on the burns, so they should be applied on a daily basis, to get rid of the scars. Another effective home remedy is to apply tomato pulp on the affected skin. This is known to lighten the scars too.
# 5
Massaging the affected skin with natural oils such as almond oil and olive oil, everyday for about ten minutes and then leaving the oil on the skin overnight, allowing the skin to absorb the oil, is known to lighten burn scars. Making a mixture of vitamin E oil, wheat germ oil and olive oil, in equal quantities and then applying it on the affected skin can prove to be really effective.
Lastly, if you have any kind of blisters or wounds on the burn, you should never ever pick on them, as it can lead to skin infection, slow down the healing process and worsen the scars. With these tips, you should be able to take care of them, or at least lighten their appearance. However, if you have severe burn scarring that cover a large area, then the last resort for you may be plastic surgery. If you are considering this option, consult a surgeon and weigh all the pros and cons of surgery, before you go in for it.