What Is It, and How Is It Used?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on November 27, 2021

• Parts of the Rule of Nines
• Why Is the Rule of Nines Helpful?
• Types of Burns
• The Rule of Nines in Burn Treatment
• Limits of the Rule of Nines

The rule of nines is a tool used to estimate a burn’s percentage of your total skin. It divides your body into sections by multiples of 9% each.

The sections in the rule of nines are:

• Head: 9% 
• Genitalia: 1%
• Arm: 9%
• Leg: 18% 
• Torso: 36%‌

The body sections can divide in half. For example, the front side of one arm or your head is 4.5% of your total body surface area. The front and back of your torso are 18% each. ‌

These percentages are accurate for people over age 14.

The rule of nines gives an idea of how much of your total body’s surface area a burn takes up. This informs treatments based on the size and intensity of the burn injury.

Emergency medical responders are some of the medical workers who use the rule of nines most. They quickly estimate the burn area to decide on treatments on the way to the hospital. 

The rule of nines applies to burns from all causes. The most common causes of burn injuries are:

Thermal.Thermal burns result from contact with a hot surface, object, or flames. The heat kills your skin cells. Common causes of thermal burns include:

• Steam 
• Boiling liquids
• Hot metals 
• Fires‌

Electrical. Electrical burns come from direct contact with an electrical current. Electrical currents are high amounts of energy that flow through wires. Accidents that cause electrical burns include:

• Touching exposed wires
• Using faulty machinery or electrical equipment
• Touching a power line or pole
• Touching an electrical device that water is touching, such as a hair dryer in the sink while it’s still plugged in
• Lightning

Electrical burns can damage other areas besides your skin. Electric shock can weaken your muscles, impact your vision, or in severe cases stop your heart. 

Chemical. Chemical burns come from contact with harsh or dangerous chemicals. These chemicals can cause damage similar to thermal burns. Chemicals that can burn your skin include:

• Drain cleaners
• Wet cement
• Bleach
• Battery acid‌

Your skin has multiple layers between its surface and underlying tissues like muscle and fat. Burns have degrees based on how deep they reach into your skin.

First-degree. First-degree burns affect only the top layer of skin (called the epidermis). They can cause redness, skin dryness, and pain. First-degree burns usually heal with no scarring. ‌

The rule of nines usually isn’t needed in first-degree burn care.‌

Second-degree. Second-degree (or partial-thickness) burns reach the deeper layers of your skin (called the dermis). They often swell and blister. Second-degree burns can leave permanent scars.‌

Third-degree. Third-degree (or full-thickness) burns reach to the deepest part of your skin and parts below the skin, like hair roots and sweat glands. ‌

Fourth-degree burns reach underlying fat. Fifth-degree burns reach muscle. Sixth-degree burns reach bone.

Burn injuries can seriously damage your skin and other parts of your body. Your immune system’s response to a severe burn can lead to shock, heart failure, and organ damage.

Medical providers need to know a burn’s relative size using the rule of nines to decide on treatments. 

Burn treatments include:

Skin grafts. Skin grafting is a treatment that takes healthy skin from one part of your body and places it on an injured area. This helps protect the injury from infection. 

Determining a burn injury’s total body surface area using the rule of nines can help doctors plan a skin graft treatment.

Fluid replacement. Severe burns can cause your body to lose too much fluid, like blood, sweat, and water, inside your cells. This means you may need a fluid IV to keep enough water inside your body. ‌

A burn’s amount of total body surface area informs how much water should go in your IV line.

Human error. Burns can spread over your body so they are unevenly distributed across the rule of nines’ sections. A burn injury’s size, shape, and depth can make it hard to guess its percentage of total body surface area. ‌

Inaccurate guesses can cause doctors to use too much fluid or too little fluid in treatment. This can lead to kidney problems, liver damage, swelling, and other issues.‌

Different body sizes. The rule of nines doesn’t apply to children or patients who are obese. Babies and children under 14 have different rules for estimating a burn’s percentage of total body surface area.  ‌

Many other rules for estimating a burn’s size can apply to patients who are obese. Based on their body shapes, different body parts have different percentages of total body surface area.

Top Picks

What Is It, and How Is It Used?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on November 27, 2021

• Parts of the Rule of Nines
• Why Is the Rule of Nines Helpful?
• Types of Burns
• The Rule of Nines in Burn Treatment
• Limits of the Rule of Nines

The rule of nines is a tool used to estimate a burn’s percentage of your total skin. It divides your body into sections by multiples of 9% each.

The sections in the rule of nines are:

• Head: 9% 
• Genitalia: 1%
• Arm: 9%
• Leg: 18% 
• Torso: 36%‌

The body sections can divide in half. For example, the front side of one arm or your head is 4.5% of your total body surface area. The front and back of your torso are 18% each. ‌

These percentages are accurate for people over age 14.

The rule of nines gives an idea of how much of your total body’s surface area a burn takes up. This informs treatments based on the size and intensity of the burn injury.

Emergency medical responders are some of the medical workers who use the rule of nines most. They quickly estimate the burn area to decide on treatments on the way to the hospital. 

The rule of nines applies to burns from all causes. The most common causes of burn injuries are:

Thermal.Thermal burns result from contact with a hot surface, object, or flames. The heat kills your skin cells. Common causes of thermal burns include:

• Steam 
• Boiling liquids
• Hot metals 
• Fires‌

Electrical. Electrical burns come from direct contact with an electrical current. Electrical currents are high amounts of energy that flow through wires. Accidents that cause electrical burns include:

• Touching exposed wires
• Using faulty machinery or electrical equipment
• Touching a power line or pole
• Touching an electrical device that water is touching, such as a hair dryer in the sink while it’s still plugged in
• Lightning

Electrical burns can damage other areas besides your skin. Electric shock can weaken your muscles, impact your vision, or in severe cases stop your heart. 

Chemical. Chemical burns come from contact with harsh or dangerous chemicals. These chemicals can cause damage similar to thermal burns. Chemicals that can burn your skin include:

• Drain cleaners
• Wet cement
• Bleach
• Battery acid‌

Your skin has multiple layers between its surface and underlying tissues like muscle and fat. Burns have degrees based on how deep they reach into your skin.

First-degree. First-degree burns affect only the top layer of skin (called the epidermis). They can cause redness, skin dryness, and pain. First-degree burns usually heal with no scarring. ‌

The rule of nines usually isn’t needed in first-degree burn care.‌

Second-degree. Second-degree (or partial-thickness) burns reach the deeper layers of your skin (called the dermis). They often swell and blister. Second-degree burns can leave permanent scars.‌

Third-degree. Third-degree (or full-thickness) burns reach to the deepest part of your skin and parts below the skin, like hair roots and sweat glands. ‌

Fourth-degree burns reach underlying fat. Fifth-degree burns reach muscle. Sixth-degree burns reach bone.

Burn injuries can seriously damage your skin and other parts of your body. Your immune system’s response to a severe burn can lead to shock, heart failure, and organ damage.

Medical providers need to know a burn’s relative size using the rule of nines to decide on treatments. 

Burn treatments include:

Skin grafts. Skin grafting is a treatment that takes healthy skin from one part of your body and places it on an injured area. This helps protect the injury from infection. 

Determining a burn injury’s total body surface area using the rule of nines can help doctors plan a skin graft treatment.

Fluid replacement. Severe burns can cause your body to lose too much fluid, like blood, sweat, and water, inside your cells. This means you may need a fluid IV to keep enough water inside your body. ‌

A burn’s amount of total body surface area informs how much water should go in your IV line.

Human error. Burns can spread over your body so they are unevenly distributed across the rule of nines’ sections. A burn injury’s size, shape, and depth can make it hard to guess its percentage of total body surface area. ‌

Inaccurate guesses can cause doctors to use too much fluid or too little fluid in treatment. This can lead to kidney problems, liver damage, swelling, and other issues.‌

Different body sizes. The rule of nines doesn’t apply to children or patients who are obese. Babies and children under 14 have different rules for estimating a burn’s percentage of total body surface area. ‌

Many other rules for estimating a burn’s size can apply to patients who are obese. Based on their body shapes, different body parts have different percentages of total body surface area.

Top Picks

Rule of Nine

I like to work and I don’t like to relax.

In my senior years I worked sixteen to eighteen hours a day. Sleepless nights were common. Once a month I could work for a whole day and a little more – my head was still thinking, and then I could always sleep off. At such moments, I considered myself a hero of labor: everyone is sleeping, drinking and having fun, and I alone heroically climb the mountain.

Here’s what I learned about heroic work

The degree of heroism is in no way connected with the benefit that you bring, neither for yourself nor for those around you. The way you push yourself has little to do with the value you bring with your work.

People don’t give a damn how hard you work. The client does not need heroism, but a good result. How you get to this result depends much more on professionalism than on perseverance.

Sitting on tasks at night is a sign of an amateur. The amateur does not manage himself and his time well, negotiates badly, makes unnecessary promises, does not delegate tasks, gets distracted, procrastinates, spends too much time on insignificant things. A professional not only does his job well, but also manages to do it on time.

The professionals I look up to have severe limitations in their work. One of them starts the working day at 14:00. The other does not work on weekends. The third never does things on the same day they appear – he has the principle “Do it tomorrow”. I feel uncomfortable conforming to these restrictions, but I respect them. They are also respected by other people.

Heroism is a shortcoming

Unfortunately, I myself did not set any limits for myself. Therefore, he heroically worked on weekends, and on weekdays, and early in the morning, and late at night. And if you look back at all the work done, the most valuable and useful of what I did was done outside of this heroic work. Everything that was done urgently and overtime was usually not needed by anyone.

When I started thinking about it, I saw that there is nothing good in heroism. Sitting at night and bending to every request of a client is the path of a student, not a professional. Requests and comments will not decrease. There will be no less work. If nothing changes, I will forever remain a bearded, hunched-over editor at a computer at four in the morning.

To use the mountain metaphor, I am climbing a mountain without equipment. And the point is not to climb, but to move up. Both a helicopter and a lift are suitable for this. In order to become a professional and be more useful, I must build myself a helicopter.

So I start the experiment. From July 25, 2014, I introduce the “Rule of Nine”.

Rule of Nine

From Monday to Friday, work starts at nine in the morning and ends at nine in the evening. There is no work from nine in the evening until nine in the morning. There is no work on weekends.

Consequences of the rule of nine:

All work is planned from nine in the morning to nine in the evening. I take responsibility for the fact that I will fulfill all my promises for the day before nine in the evening.

No “tails” are closed after nine in the evening. If I understand that I am not on time for something, I go to the client and re-negotiate.

Any meeting, call or Skype ends at 9 pm, regardless of their phase and stage. This means that any meeting should begin no later than half past seven.

The Rule of Nine does not apply to courses, trainings and public speaking – mine or other people’s. I can break the rule of nine if I’m teaching or participating in someone else’s course, hosting Living Advice, or giving a public lecture.

The Rule of Nine can be a barrier to collaboration. For example, if your working day starts at 6 pm Moscow time, and the active phase falls at 3 am, then we will not dock. If this is an insurmountable obstacle for you, then we should not cooperate, even if we are perfect for each other.

P. S. For greater effect, I will consider buying a light and thin laptop that confidently holds a charge for 12 hours at full screen brightness. I heard that new macbooks can do this, but I don’t believe it. Connoisseurs, advise, please.

Read online “1000 tips from an experienced doctor. How to help yourself and your loved ones in extreme situations”, Victor Kovalev – Litres

What is this book about

Don’t you think, friends, that the author and publishers got a little excited? The fate of a book on surgical topics always inspires considerable concern. Will it be read, that is the question.

The sweetest thing to do is to browse at your leisure something about tasty and healthy food, about freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, aromatic herbs, vitamins, incense. And also about the jar, fresh air, physical education …

Why flip through? Even thinking about all these wonderful things fills the mind and heart with optimism and cheerfulness. Just like the viewers and participants of the Malakhov + TV show.

On the contrary, at the word “surgery” the most imperturbable person has completely different thoughts.

Bone crunching, blood, wounds, screams of pain, and so on… What a positive attitude and attitude when it becomes cold in the stomach and dry in the mouth.

And who, pray tell, without special training and experience, dares to help himself or his neighbor surgically? It’s scary to even imagine. For a non-professional, the mention of scalpels, bandages, crutches, etc. will cause more horror than a desire to broaden one’s horizons.

But let’s try to think a little, so to speak, strain the convolutions. Sometimes this is useful.

Fans of reading about health, illness and self-healing are well aware of the axiom that the most important conditions for a long, happy and serene life are, firstly, the harmony of soul and body; secondly, good environmental conditions: good food, good housing, a wonderful climate – and so on.

There seems to be nothing to argue about. At first glance, our health is entirely dependent on us. And indeed, people cope with most of the ailments without resorting to the help of doctors – as they say, they are treated on their own.

However, in medical circles, the word self-medication is given a disapproving or even condemning meaning.

In conversations between doctors, self-medication refers to the attempts of patients to improve their deteriorating health by useless medication or, so to speak, “improving” procedures. The restraint, and even indignation of professionals who often have to eliminate the fruits of such activity, is quite understandable.

Every practicing physician will tell you that good habits and exemplary behavior alone cannot protect oneself from all manifestations of life, including diseases.

It is naive to hope that health can be preserved or increased by scrupulous observance of as many hygiene recommendations and health advice as possible.

However, everyone is aware of the limited possibilities of preventive measures and efforts. A glass of carrot juice will not protect you from fate. At the same time, the unconditional denial of independent actions in relation to one’s own health is not entirely fair.

First of all, everyone needs basic medical knowledge and skills, as they can play a saving role in the life of any person.

Sometimes circumstances develop in such a way that a person without medical education suddenly falls under the need to save health, and even life. It doesn’t matter if it’s yours or someone else’s. In acute situations, the mind begins to work surprisingly quickly and clearly. And it’s good if there is something to remember in the far corners of our memory.

Let’s take the next step in our reasoning and reflections.

The position of people who lack the determination to take any medical action on their own is worthy of understanding – in all ages, healing has been based on the commandment “do no harm.”

With self-treatment, the situation is exactly the same: the main thing is to stop in time. If you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything. When you come face to face with a disease, it is worth giving up arrogance and nihilism about medicine. To remember that there are doctors – isn’t this the beginning of the right treatment?

Reasonable decisions concerning one’s own health are much easier to make when a person understands what surgery is in general; what considerations are guided by a doctor recommending an operation; what to expect in the postoperative period and so on. To have more or less intelligible ideas about all this is not superfluous.

People who are far from medicine most often have no idea about how everyday life goes in the hospital walls. There is no need to be surprised at this – after all, the words “hospital”, “hospital”, “hospitalization” do not attract curiosity. However, any sane person will agree that the minimum information about the written and unwritten rules of hospital life, and even obtained first-hand, may also be needed by everyone.

How to get settled in the ward, how to establish relationships with doctors, nurses, nurses and roommates – all these everyday tasks can be solved quite simply if you know from which side to take them.

But professional assistance to a sick or injured person is far from everything. Those patients who fight for recovery shoulder to shoulder with doctors and sisters recover faster after operations.

And those who have already recovered must continue to take care of their health. Without the active participation of the patient himself, rehabilitation (restoration of a full-fledged lifestyle after surgery) is impossible.

Therefore, rational nutrition, physical education, self-massage, baths and other good habits can be called surgical self-treatment without exaggeration.

If reading this book will help at least a few people overcome with honor the problems that unexpectedly arose in their lives, we (the author and publishers) will be able to breathe a sigh of relief – it means that our labors were not in vain.

Chapter I

Short course of home “needlework”. First aid for injuries, burns, frostbite, bruises and sprains

Help for superficial wounds

“Needlework” is a literal translation from Greek, and not a flat joke of a novice writer. The word “surgery” since the time of Hippocrates means “action with the hands.”

Let’s start with ordinary incidents. Everyone has been cut or scratched. There is a life-tested set of rules for the treatment of superficial wounds, more often they are called abrasions or scratches.

We will act on the same principles as surgeons. To treat a wound, you need:

– stop bleeding;

– remove dirt from the wound;

– “close” the wound – that is, to prevent its further contamination.

How to stop heavy bleeding, will be described in more detail in the chapter “Ministry of Emergency Situations”. With scratches and abrasions, there is no heavy bleeding.

It is best to clean the abrasion with a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution. The foam, which is formed when hydrogen peroxide interacts with blood, removes dirt and most microbes from the wound; the active oxygen released at the same time promotes the formation of blood clots in the capillaries.

So, hydrogen peroxide simultaneously cleanses, disinfects the wound and stops bleeding from small vessels.

If there is no hydrogen peroxide at home, it is enough to wash the abrasion with water (at least from the tap, even from the well).

When the wound is very dirty, feel free to use soap and water.

Do not pour alcohol, gasoline and other organic solvents on a fresh wound – these substances increase tissue damage.

After washing the wound, dry it. To do this, remember how to remove a drop of paint that has fallen on the glass. Blot the wound with a loose cloth or cotton.

Moving the swab back and forth over the wound, and even with force, you can damage the blood clots, and this will lead to the resumption of bleeding.

After drying the wound, treat the edges of the skin around it with a solution of brilliant green (“brilliant green”), cologne, vodka or other strong liquor. This is more accurate if you use a tampon made from a piece of cotton wool wound around a match. Now special cotton buds are also sold.

You can treat the edges of wounds with tinctures of medicinal plants – calendula, eucalyptus.

However, it is better to use aqueous solutions of chlorhexidine or miramistin.

These preparations are truly suitable anywhere. Their use does not cause pain and burning. Chlorhexidine and miramistin can be used to disinfect a fresh abrasion, rinse the eye or throat with inflammation, and rinse the mouth after tooth extraction.

Chlorhexidine and miramistin are also suitable for dressing wounds that begin to become inflamed or suppurate.

It is advisable to have at least one of these medicines in your medicine cabinet. However, do not forget about the centuries-old use of iodine tincture. There are also more modern drugs based on iodine – betadine or iodopyrone.

But remember that iodine preparations can cause burns or allergic reactions in some people.

After you have washed and disinfected the wound, cover it with a germicidal band-aid. If a bactericidal patch is not at hand, you can seal the wound with a simple adhesive tape.

When using a regular band-aid, remember to allow the wound to breathe. Therefore, before sticking the patch, cover the wound with a piece of gauze or other absorbent cloth. If the tissue is not sterile, soak it in chlorhexidine, miramistin, or any alcohol tincture (except iodine!) and wring it dry before putting it on the wound.

If you don’t have a band-aid at home, you can cover the abrasion with a bandage. We will talk about how to properly bandage and bandages in general a little later.

Bruised, chopped and stab wounds

It is clear that a doctor is consulted for injuries more severe than abrasions. When the wound “gaps”, it needs to be “closed”. To do this, the doctor brings its edges together with sutures or special staples. With a small wound (up to 5 centimeters long), this can be done with strips of adhesive tape.

Bruised wounds should not be treated at home, that is, those inflicted with an ax, hammer and other heavy objects. Animal bite wounds should also be examined by a surgeon. It is possible that he will be forced to first remove the damaged tissue and only then sew up the wound. This operation is called “primary debridement”.

Stab wounds are especially dangerous. Their external skin damage is small, and the wound channel is long and narrow. In this case, the infection is carried deep into the tissues, which often leads to severe purulent complications. Therefore, if you stepped on or sat on a nail, pierced your hand with an awl or a needle, do not wait until inflammation begins. Immediately after the incident, go to the emergency room or hospital emergency department. Of course, after the bandage is applied.

How to close the edges of a wound with adhesive tape.

Why, when and how wounds are bandaged

Once again, let’s recall the tasks that need to be solved when you treat wounds.

There are three such tasks:

1) stop the bleeding;

2) remove dirt from the wound;

3) prevent further contamination of the wound.

Dressings help to solve two of these three tasks – to stop bleeding and prevent further contamination of the wound.

The main and mortal danger in severe wounds is rapid blood loss. So the first thing to do is stop the bleeding. When the blood flows in a stream or a pulsating stream, do not waste time thinking that you will introduce an infection into the wound. Any wound is already contaminated with germs.

Most bleeding can be controlled with a pressure bandage. Cover the wound with the cleanest thing you can get your hands on. If there is no sterile gauze, take a clean handkerchief, a piece of a shirt or dress, a paper napkin, a piece of toilet paper folded several times. In a word, any more or less pure material capable of absorbing moisture. After closing the wound with a napkin or something that replaces it, proceed to bandaging.

How to fix the dressing for head wounds.

With the first two turns of the bandage, secure the dressing used to cover the wound. The first turn presses the upper edge of the napkin, the second – the bottom. Do not try to pull the bandage tight on the first wraps – you can move the napkin covering the wound. When making a turn of the bandage, cover the previous layer of the bandage by half the width of the bandage.

Increase the tension of the bandage with each turn. Now you can already put cotton wool to increase the pressure on the wound.

Bleeding from head wounds is also stopped by a pressure bandage. How to make sure that such a bandage does not fall off is shown in the figure.

Perhaps the sling-like bandage of head wounds is one of the clearest proofs that everything ingenious is simple. The ends of the “reins”, after the wound is covered with 4-5 layers of bandage, are tied together. This bandage will never fall off. When applying a bandage, either the victim himself or an assistant can hold the “reins”.

Concluding the conversation about first aid for wounds, it is necessary to draw attention to a very important detail.

Do not attempt to remove glass fragments or other objects that are firmly stuck in wounds. This can lead to renewed bleeding.

About the features of stopping arterial bleeding (when blood flows out of the wound in a pulsating jet) will be described in the chapter “Ministry of Emergency Situations” (meaning the rules for applying a tourniquet).

Topical treatment of fresh wounds requires the use of sterile dressings and careful asepsis when applying the dressing. In a matter of minutes, it is most likely impossible to create an operating room or a clean dressing room at home or in a country-garden-field environment.

Therefore, it is wise to take advantage of the experience of emergency doctors, they prefer ready-made sterile dressings. Therefore, both in the home and in the car first aid kit there should be some stock of sterile bandages and wipes in intact packages.

When going to the forest, in addition to a knife and matches, take with you a sterile bandage in a package.

Most first aid kits also include a swab bandage IPP (individual dressing package). It is a sterile soft pad placed over a wound to absorb blood and secretions and to prevent infection from entering the wound. The PPI kit includes a bandage with which the pad is fixed over the wound. The rubberized sheath of the PPI can be used for penetrating chest wounds. What to do with such wounds is described in the chapter “Ministry of Emergency Situations for myself”.

An impromptu IPP is easy to make: wrap several layers of bandage around a 5 x 10 cm sheet of cotton. The soft pad is ready. You can bandage it to the wound.

In situations where sterile bandages and napkins are nowhere to be found, anything that can wrap or cover the injured part of the body can be used as a dressing – a towel, a piece of sheet, a scarf, a scarf. In extreme cases, the wound can be covered with several layers of toilet paper.

Each dressing is considered temporary, and after first aid has been given, it is best to go to the emergency room.

If the accident happened in the forest, you can put a handful of sphagnum moss on the wound – it has a hemostatic and disinfectant effect.

So, after the bleeding has been stopped, the most important thing is to prevent further contamination of the wound, if possible, by covering it with a bandage.

First aid for burns and frostbite

Burns

In everyday life, burns most often occur in the kitchen and bathroom – there is always a danger of suffering from hot water, steam, pots, hot pans, burners, irons, etc.

Burns are dangerous injuries am. The severity of burns is determined not only by the degree of tissue damage. It depends on the size of the burned surface, and on which area of ​​the body is burned.

Only minor burns can be treated at home. People with more severe burns must be taken to the hospital.

How the severity of burns is determined

Burns of I, II and III degrees are distinguished depending on the depth of skin damage.

Tactics of treatment and terms of healing of burn wounds depend on the degree of the burn.

First degree burns – the most mild. The thickness of the skin during burns of the first degree of severity is not damaged. The surface of the burned area becomes pink or red but remains dry and may show small blisters. First-degree burns take several days to heal – approximately one week.

Butadione ointment or celestoderm with garamycin is excellent for sunburn. If you are going to relax in hot countries and lie in the sun to your heart’s content, along with sunscreen, be sure to take one of these products with you. This will help you avoid familiarity with the peculiarities of Egyptian, Turkish or Thai healthcare.

Second degree burns damage part of the thickness of the skin. Combustiologists (doctors who treat thermal injuries – burns and frostbite) distinguish between superficial and deep second-degree burns.

First and second degree skin lesions may be caused by very brief exposure to hot liquids or steam. For example, burn blisters occur even after 30 seconds of contact with water at a temperature of 54 ° C.

In superficial second-degree burns, the skin becomes bright red and moist, blistered, and sensitive.

Most of these burns are treated on an outpatient basis. In other words, the patient stays at home and goes to the clinic for dressings. Healing will take from 10 days to three weeks.

In deep second-degree burns, the skin turns dark red or yellow-white. It is covered with large bubbles. The healing of such burns is extremely slow – at least three weeks, and after healing, rough tightening scars often form. Often a significant part of the treatment has to be done in the hospital.

Third-degree burns, or full-thickness burns of the skin, are caused by prolonged exposure to hot water, steam, incandescent objects, flames, high voltage electrical current, or concentrated chemicals.

This destroys all layers of the skin. The burned area looks like a pearly white, charred or “parchment” area. Sensitivity in the affected area disappears, as the nerve endings of the skin are destroyed by the action of high temperature.

Treatment of people with third-degree burns is carried out either in specialized burn centers or in the departments of purulent surgery. Often, such patients require skin transplantation, since self-restoration of the skin is impossible.

How is the prevalence of burns determined?

For first-degree burns, the area of ​​the burn lesion is usually not measured, because this does not affect the choice of treatment tactics.

For deeper injuries, combustiologists draw up a diagram of the burn surface to accurately determine the area of ​​the lesion.

In adult patients, the proportion of affected skin surface can be determined using the Rule of Nine.

According to this rule, the entire surface of the body is divided into segments, each of which is approximately 9% of the total body surface: head and neck – 9%; upper limbs – 9% each, lower limbs – 18% each, front and back surfaces of the body – 18% each; genitals and perineum – 1% each.

In children, these ratios are different, since their head and neck make up a relatively large part of the body surface, and the lower limbs a smaller one.