Simple Burn Treatment

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Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
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Haworth
I stumbled across this article the other day, and thought i would share.

The following is copied from: http://www.vibrantlifenews.com/?p=242

[h=1]"SIMPLE Burn Treatment![/h] Here is a simple and quite effective burn treatment writeup from a doctor friend in Fiji – worth the read!


Fiji/Schelker Burn Treatment

1.Immediately after being burned: get a raw egg & separate the white from the yolk.


2.Apply a generous amount of egg white to the burn with your fingers.


3.Have a Fan of some type, or blow with mouth onto egg white to get it to dry.


4.Repeat several times a day & once before bed & maybe next day if necessary.


5.Next day gently wash off dried egg white from skin and reapply if necessary.
Note: The sooner egg white is applied to the burn the less chance for blister, infection, & scaring. After application you may choose to go to a health care provider.


DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE PHYSIOLOGY INVOLVED

Fiji/Schelker Burn Treatment
By Dr. Byron Cragun B.A., D.C.


An effective simple universal treatment for burns has generally eluded the population of this planet. However, there has been a remarkably effective treatment present throughout the world since the beginning of time and this treatment comes from the most basic source, the egg. How it is that the knowledge of this most important item is not common knowledge in this world of ours? I don’t think anyone can answer this but we all need to accept the fact that Nature has never provided any item that is so powerfully effective for the treatment of burns and so easily available everywhere on this planet.But only the Egg White!


I present you with my story and all the facts about this Burn Treatment that I have, including what occurs physiologically, so the world can start using it IMMEDIATELY. Remember there is a child somewhere who will suffer needlessly if the mother does not have this information. Help end the pain, suffering, and scaring, tell EVERYONE NOW.


I have called it“The Fiji / Schelker Burn Treatment”. I want Fiji to become the origin of this knowledge to the world and the Schelker family be known for where the burn treatment originated. I simply explain how and why it works physiologically and give you factual information from personal experience.


Approximately 30 yrs ago I meet a great friend in Chiropractic School from Switzerland, a Dr. Claude Schelker , who told me the story of how his family, who did a lot of welding, treated themselves for their daily burns. They would always take a tea canister to work with a fresh egg in it. When they were burned, no matter how severely, they would crack open their egg, separate the white from the yolk, and with their fingers spread the egg white generously on the area of the burn. They would then blow on it or have a fan blow on it to get it to dry and repeat by applying several coats then go back to work. This procedure would be repeated several times during the day and one application before bed. In the morning they would wash of the egg white and find undamaged pink skin, minus hair. Depending on the severity of the burn they might have to reapply egg white the day after the burn but there was never blistering, swelling, infection or scarring.


I thought this was quite a remarkable story but needed to burn myself (accidently) for the experience necessary to really FEEL the significance of this, new to me BURN treatment. One day my motorcycle fell on its side with my bear skin under its glowing hot exhaust pipe.


What a nasty burn this was on the inside of my left leg. Wow this was painful and what was a person to do, basically nothing. So I jumped around in pain for a while then went about what I was doing. About 20 minutes later, over I go again with the motorcycles (a 1965 triumph 500) red hot exhaust about 4 inches higher than the first burn only larger and more severe. Man this was some kind of painful lesson I was getting. This time I remembered Claude and the egg white. I was a scientist and aspiring Doctor so I couldn’t resist experimenting on myself by applying the egg white to the NEW burn and leave the other untreated. How could I fully appreciate this experience otherwise?


I immediately got and egg from the refrigerator, separated the yolk for the white, spread several coats of fresh egg white on the second more severe burn and repeated this several times during the day and once before bed. After approximately one hour the pain had largely subsided in the treated area but the pain continued throughout the day in the first burn.
The next day the untreated burn was as one would expect; blistered red, swollen, running, and becoming infected and it looked and felt terrible and a scar eventually formed.


The treated burn had what looked like melted plastic on it which was the dried egg white. I washed the egg white off and was startled to find smooth Pink skin minus hair with no blistering or swelling and it was not painful at all.


The answer to why and what occurs in this treatment of burns is a very interesting story and one I know you will all enjoy regardless level of understanding you presently have regarding how the body works.


When a severe burn occurs, all the cells of the epidermis and dermis are destroyed. The cells kind of explode and the content of these cells becomes a pool of chemicals of all kinds from DNA to enzymes and all the things that are meant to be separate from everything outside the cell. The cell membrane that separated the contents inside the cell from the outside has been destroyed.
These chemicals are intensely irritating to the surrounding tissue and, like the eye with an irritant, it will try to wash, dilute, and cleanse out the irritant. So fluid begins to enter the damaged tissue area. The blood vessels are destroyed, swelling begins, and nerve endings are either destroyed or are irritated causing pain. The swelling continues and the pressure created by the swelling restricts the blood flow into the damaged area and reduces the blood flow out of the damaged area also. With no fresh blood carrying oxygen and nutrient into the damaged area plus poor blood flow out, fluid accumulates and blister formation occurs. Next all the tissue in the area begins to breakdown further. The final stage is infection which is followed by repair and scar formation. We have all seen and felt this personally.


Medication for pain, inflammation, and infection is basically all that is available for the care of the wound but this will take too much time and will be ineffective anyway. There are all types of folk remedies in the world but who remembers what they are or can find someone who knows. I guarantee someone will know where a raw egg is. This Fiji / Schelker burn treatment will become the Folk remedy for the Planet.


Enteregg white and “The Fiji / Schelker Burn Treatment”. Egg white is pure liquid protein. It is sterile and cool if taken from the refrigerator.


When egg white is applied to the skin it dries quickly especially if something is blowing on it like your mouth or a fan. When something dries quickly there is a cooling effect much like wind or a fan cools.


So egg white has a cooling effect which is important, cooling slows down the inflammation a bit. Next egg white seals the wound with a sterile coating.Next a remarkable thing occurs.


I need to first explain what Osmotic Pressure is: If you separate salt water from fresh water with a membrane the salt water will try to suck fresh water through the membrane to dilute the salt water. The amount of sucking pressure is like a vacuum pulling fresh water through the membrane. This vacuum or sucking pressure pulling fresh water into the salt water is called Osmotic Pressure. The inside of a cell membrane is concentrated with highly osmotic chemicals similar to the salt water above. When the contents of the cell are released they will attract water to dilute them. This is the main cause of the swelling in a burned tissue and nothing can be done to change this. THIS IS NO LONGER TRUE AS YOU WILL NOW SEE.


Moist egg white possesses a high osmotic pressure. Dried Egg white produces incredibly high osmotic pressure. Immediately put egg white on the skin and dry it by fan or blowing, causing cooling, and as the egg white dries is begins to exert its osmotic pressure on the fluid accumulating beneath the epidermis (outer skin layer). The fluid is draw through the epidermis and is absorbed into the egg white in which the moisture is then rapidly evaporated.


What are the effects of this moisture being evaporated on the skin through the dried egg white?


One, the rapid swelling stops, and two, the moisture that would cause the swelling evaporates through the egg white on the surface of the skin. Picture a wick in a lamp pulling the fluid into the wick then evaporated or burned.


Because there is little swelling there is no pressure restricting the blood flow into the damaged tissue and the circulation is quickly restored by the body allowing Oxygen and important nutrient building material into the damaged area as well as good circulation out of the area (both venous & lymphatic) taking debris and deoxygenated blood out. Of course white blood cells are doing all the savaging and cleaning up of the cellular debris and these white blood cells come from the leaking damaged vessels in the area which are in the process of rapidly rebuilding themselves.


By keeping the egg white layer on continuously for a 24 hr. period there is little or no swelling so that there is a continuous supply of fresh blood with its building materials and abundant oxygen and removal of necessary cellular debris through the venous and lymphatic pathways.


One last important fact that was recently realized after using the Fiji / Schelker treatment for a burn on my arm was the fact that when the egg white dries it shrinks this applies a gentle evenly placed pressure on the underlying damaged and swelling tissue. This would have the effect of reducing the fluid moving into the damaged tissue as well as slightly increasing the osmotic pressure that the egg white has for the purpose of pulling fluid through the skin to be evaporated on the surface of the skin.


The burned area might need to be treated for several days or so depending on the severity and extent of the burn but it will always be successful.


The epidermis will be lost as it would be in a sun burn but the epidermis is basically dead tissue anyway. It cannot be stressed enough, apply the egg white to the burn as QUICKLY as possible.


If the burn is caused by hot oils first gently wash skin with some shampoo or liquid soap dry off then apply the egg white. Oils and fats seal the burned skin and stop any moisture from leaving the skin causing the blistering. Although the egg white has the ability to absorb oil to some extent it is best to simply gently wash any remaining oil off.


I discussed this method of treating burns 25 years ago with my Uncle Frank Jackson, out of U.C. Berkely, who developed synthetic skin for severe burns, and he thought how easy it would be to dry and package eggs white for hospitals but I said, “Why so complicated?” We both had a good laugh.


The last points I will include are two more personal first hand REAL and successfully treated serious burns by the Fiji / Schelker Burn Treatment.


One Friday evening about 20yrs ago I was in the pits at a race track helping a friend. He drove in his go cart and I put one hand on his shoulder and was going to tell him something. The problem was I put my other hand on the glowing red exhaust next to the head of the engine ( yeah one could not have been more careless). I must have jumped 2 ft. and immediately left for my truck to go to the store to buy some eggs. I could not believe what I had just done. I was certain I would not be able to work for over a month and my injury would affect me permanently and since I was a Doctor who used his hands as the main tool.


I really had no choice. I got the egg white on my hand with in 5 min and had my air condition vent blowing on the wound. I had applied about 5 coats and kept the fan on it for another 30 min then went back to the race tract. It was a nasty burn, with a bolt from the exhaust having burned a hole ¼” into a callous between my 4 & 5 fingers on my palm.


After about 1 hr the throbbing pain had subsided a bit and after several more coats of egg white and several hours later the pain was manageable. After about 5 hrs I applied one more egg white coating and went to bed. I had no idea what the morning would bring but knew it would not be good.


When I woke I quickly looked at my burned hand which appeared to have clear melted cellophane coating it. However it did not hurt. I proceeded to wash the egg white off and found a ½”x 3” bright pink line where the burn had been plus a bolt hole singed through the skin of the callous. The skin, where burned, had no finger print like lines but was as smooth as glass. I was able to work that day and continued to apply the egg white that day also but no scare, swelling or infection.


My final story is about my 12 mo. old niece. It was winter in California but I thought nothing of my little niece sitting on grading of the floor furnace next to the wall. Until I hear the blood curdling scream. There she was with her hands raised in the air because she dare not touch the burning hot metal she was sitting on. She had wet diapers on and I was not aware of the hot the floor grading until it was too late.


I grabbed her and ran to the refrigerator and separated an egg and applied the white to her little bum, which looked like it had been branded by a waffle iron. As you can expect she was hysterical with pain. I began applying the egg white to the burn and had a fan blowing on it in 30 sec. I could only imagine how bad this burn would be, with infection and scaring a certainty.


After about a 1/2hr her crying had stopped and was sleeping within an hour. I keep applying egg white and the fan as she slept. When she woke she did not seem in much pain unless she sat down. We kept the diapers off her for obvious reasons and kept applying the egg white throughout the day because the egg white would flake off when she moved. We continued to apply the egg white several times that night. When she woke we washed her bum to find a checker board of pink skin, no blister or swelling. Now that is a Fact also!"
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
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59
Bristol
2010 article in the Journal of Emergency Nursing specifically recommends against treating burns with raw egg whites.

No data supporting any benefit of applying or placing such types of agents on burned areas has been found," the author noted. Moreover, he wrote, "[t]he risk of infection from applying most of these inappropriate remedies to a fresh burn wound is obvious. For example, eggs can serve as an excellent culture medium for micro-organisms."
 

Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
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Haworth
Maybe there are better "manufactured" alternatives, but, if you get burnt and have no other means of treatment, but do have an egg in the fridge... I know i would, but IT IS up to the individual :)

I'm always sceptical of journals and government health advisories, in many cases they seem to put down & scaremonger about natural alternatives, but then peddle their chemical "safer" version. After all "Big Pharma" can't charge an arm & leg for an egg.
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
59
Bristol
If you have a fridge, it's likely to be in your Kitchen, where the hot and water cold taps are normally kept, burn yourself and rather than rush for your fridge, rush for your tap, turn it on and let the cold water (has to be cold) run over the burn for 10 minutes, take out the finger from the water stream, and see it it still hurts (If it does put it back there for no less than another 10 minutes) If the burn is as large as or bigger than the top joint of the thumb (the person with the burns, thumb) then take them to see a medical professional. To do less is irresponsible.
Egg butter lard, and other quack homespun old wife’s tales are asking for scaring and long term damage.
I’ve treated dozens of partial thickness burns and know that the best way is cool and cool and keep cooling until it does not hurt, and then see an expert. Chances are the expert will tell you to keep the burn cool and that will be it.
The last thing any sane person wants to have to do is hold a friend or family member still as the doctor or nurse scrubs off the carp they have plastered over a burn
 

mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
Quite.

Also, even if the egg white worked as described - drawing fluid out from the burn! fluid loss through the burnt area is a major danger for burn victims.

Plus "find undamaged pink skin" - do you seriously believe that the skin can grow back overnight?
Sorry, but the info in your post is absolute rubbish.
 

c0nna

Member
Jan 26, 2012
11
0
Durham
I'll keep in in mind! Although I don't usually carry eggs with me unless I intend to cook them and eat them.
 

The Ratcatcher

Full Member
Apr 3, 2011
268
0
Manchester, UK
I wouldn't reject the idea out of hand, just because it's an old wives tale. These old ideas are not as silly as they seem and quite a few of them are being used in modern medicine, often with better results than the "approved" pharmaceutical product. Egg white contains albumen, and there at least two manufactured burn dressings which are albumen based.

I had a reprint of a very old "Handbook of Phisic" many years ago, which gave as a treatment for severe bleeding crushed beetle shells. Beetle shells are made of chitin. I found it rather interesting to discover that the latest haemostatic field dressings issued to US military personnel in Afghanistan (Chitosan) are made with chitin and are very effective (but also hideously expensive!).

Alan
 

Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
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Haworth
I found it rather interesting to discover that the latest haemostatic field dressings issued to US military personnel in Afghanistan (Chitosan) are made with chitin and are very effective (but also hideously expensive!)

There was an interesting article a while ago...
... Doctors visited a mission witch doctor in Mexico years ago and took samples of his remedies. Years later the village was visited by travellers and the witch doctors remedies had all been replaced by bottles and pills, because his potions had been deemed dangerous. Upon closer inspection by those who could read the labels, they were just the pharmacy equivalents of his original potions. No more effective, just more expensive and bought from a company.
Read into this what you will, but I for dont believe every medical paper published, especially those sponsored by interested parties...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I do and have used herbal treatments on burns. However I ALWAYS COOL BURN WITH WATER, I have used beer, lager anything clean and cold as fast possible on to burn. If there isn't tap the burn is soaked or submerged.

I would never consider anything other than cooling a burn with clean water as safe.

For burn after care i have used comfrey juice, was is very good. For ease and hygeine I carry aloe vera gel. both of these contain substances that are found in medical grade healing and burn cream. i could see the egg white working in a not disimmerlar way but there is no way in million years I would waste time seperating an egg to test something on baby. thats horrible.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
There was an interesting article a while ago...
... Doctors visited a mission witch doctor in Mexico years ago and took samples of his remedies. Years later the village was visited by travellers and the witch doctors remedies had all been replaced by bottles and pills, because his potions had been deemed dangerous. Upon closer inspection by those who could read the labels, they were just the pharmacy equivalents of his original potions. No more effective, just more expensive and bought from a company.
Read into this what you will, but I for dont believe every medical paper published, especially those sponsored by interested parties...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds great, got a link?
 

plastic-ninja

Full Member
Jan 11, 2011
2,228
260
cumbria
As a professional baker with a small aperture oven , I burn myself frequently and accept it as an occupational hazard.
Our standby remedy which has seemed to work better than cold water for us over the years is as follows.
We have in the fridge a 500ml tub of Aqueous Cream BP which is immediately and liberally applied to the affected area.
The application immediately cools the area and hydrates the skin and gives instant relief.As the cream is absorbed into
the skin we reapply once or twice.
As I say I burn myself frequently on metal in excess of 250C and have only a couple of scars on my forearms whereas
my colleague who uses the cold water method does seem to bear more scars and take longer to heal too_Obviously other
factors are relevant here and this is not a scientific study but it works for me.Also the cream costs next to nothing and
could be decanted down for carrying with you when out and about.
Try it.
Cheers , Simon
 

Graveworm

Life Member
Sep 2, 2011
366
0
London UK
As a professional baker with a small aperture oven , I burn myself frequently and accept it as an occupational hazard.
Our standby remedy which has seemed to work better than cold water for us over the years is as follows.
We have in the fridge a 500ml tub of Aqueous Cream BP which is immediately and liberally applied to the affected area.
The application immediately cools the area .
From the 1st couple of laws of Thermodynamics. The only way it can "cool" the skin (or improve the "cooling" process) is to use the heat to "warm" itself. Yes there are gels etc that are more efficient at cooling BY VOLUME than water (and putting them in the fridge would also help) having a higher specific heat capacity. Those are present in commercial burn dressings, they also conduct heat away from the skin better than a wet cloth etc. But they are a poor substitute for lots of running water because of the higher volume and the higher surface area caused by the constantly moving water. There are treatments for superficial burns, once they have cooled, and Aqueous cream may well help with scarring etc but it's not actually much good at cooling. The thing is a superficial burn caused by momentary contact with 250C would not really need much cooling to get back to equilibrium but additional cooling has other benefits that the cream may also be able to do well.
Do not actually try this but I think you can guess the result. Heat a blade in the fire until it is red hot. Run it under the cold tap for only a few seconds then touch the blade. Next try smearing some aqueous cream on the blade for the same few seconds, wipe it off then see how good a job it did of cooling in comparison.
 
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Do not actually try this but I think you can guess the result. Heat a blade in the fire until it is red hot. Run it under the cold tap for only a few seconds then touch the blade. Next try smearing some aqueous cream on the blade for the same few seconds, wipe it off then see how good a job it did of cooling in comparison.

I agree. The best way to cool a burn is running cool tap water over the area. There are a lot of companies trying to make money off of burn creams. They cannot sell water at a profit so of course they will try to tell you that their product is better.

Don't believe everything that an advertisement tells you
 
While working in the A&E, it is always worth a laugh to see what crap people put on burns. I have seen just about everything. The only benefit from cremes, lard, mud, grease, ointments, butter, gauze (ouch!), or anything else put on a burn is whether it cools it down. Just water will do the trick best and it will keep you from having a medic scrub out whatever crap you decide to put into a burn.

Gauze dressing is probably the worst. The only thing we can do is soak it for awhile and then yank........ sucks.....
 

winst0nsmith

Tenderfoot
Jan 8, 2012
83
1
South West Wales
If you have a fridge, it's likely to be in your Kitchen, where the hot and water cold taps are normally kept, burn yourself and rather than rush for your fridge, rush for your tap, turn it on and let the cold water (has to be cold) run over the burn for 10 minutes, take out the finger from the water stream, and see it it still hurts (If it does put it back there for no less than another 10 minutes) If the burn is as large as or bigger than the top joint of the thumb (the person with the burns, thumb) then take them to see a medical professional. To do less is irresponsible.
Egg butter lard, and other quack homespun old wife’s tales are asking for scaring and long term damage.
I’ve treated dozens of partial thickness burns and know that the best way is cool and cool and keep cooling until it does not hurt, and then see an expert. Chances are the expert will tell you to keep the burn cool and that will be it.
The last thing any sane person wants to have to do is hold a friend or family member still as the doctor or nurse scrubs off the carp they have plastered over a burn

Exactly as described above, then apply neat lavender essential oil (as long as you are not alergic to lavender, check first). It takes alot of the pain away, it is antiseptic (so good to carry for first aid in general) and helps reduce scarring in the long term. As a proffesional cook and novice bushcrafter I have had my fair share of burns, the ones treated with lavender EO noticably heal quicker and scar less; I curse myself when I find myself without it and in want of it. It is also cheap as chips, makes a good relaxing addition to a hot bath (great for achey feet after a long hike) and helps you (or the kids) drift off at night if you put a few drops on the pillow. It's better for FAK's than tea tree oil in my opinion as apparently less folk are alergic to it and you can use it neat- tea tree oil can upset some non-alergic folk if used neat as it is powerful stuff.
 

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