Lynne wrote:

> Iburnt my finger in the frying pan and it hurts like mad. what will ta=
ke
> the pain away?

Cold. Ice water or ice wrapped in a towel. All that stuff about butter=20
and creams is nonsense. Old ways that have been superseded by better ones=
=2E

Working in professional kitchens means frequent burns. The trauma unit=20
of a local hospital had their X-mas banquet in my place one year. I=20
spilled hot oil (fondue pot - 365=B0F) on my hand in the room where they =

were. One of them immediately pushed my hand into a big pitcher of=20
iced tea and walked me back to the kitchen that way. Hand got numb=20
pretty quickly. Tea was all down the front of my pants and that cost=20
me a lot of razzing over the next week or so.

Back in the kitchen, a nurse put a fair amount of ice into a plastic=20
bag, put a little water in it and put my hand into it. Closed it=20
around my wrist and told me to keep it that way for 4 hours,=20
replenishing the ice as needed to keep it all very cold. Said to take=20
the hand out for about 5 minutes (or until the pain got to be too=20
much) every 15 minutes or so for circulation.

Did what she told me. No blisters, no sloughing off of skin. A little=20
redness that disappeared in about 24 hours.

The burn was fairly extensive and would have been serious had they not=20
acted as quickly as they did. After that, our standard kitchen=20
treatment was cold. Ice first then water as needed. Our incidence of=20
serious injury diminished drastically.

The value of that approach was made very clear a while later. The same=20
accident happened to two people a day apart. Server picking up a glass=20
coffee pot had the bottom fall out and splash them down the legs with=20
hot coffee. First one was hustled into the walk-in cooler, pants off=20
and ice water poured over her legs for about a half hour. Not even=20
redness except under the straps of her shoes (which we didn't notice=20
at the time). Next day, same accident to one of the guys who said he'd=20
just shake it off. No cold water for him; pants on. He missed 4 days=20
of work from the extreme discomfort of the scorched skin and blisters.

Pastorio