I was recently sent this item below and wondered what other strange ways there are / used for reducing the effects of a burn or other injury?

'Once I was cooking some corn and stuck my fork in the boiling water to see if the corn was ready. I missed and my hand went into the boiling water.

A friend of mine, who was a Vietnam vet, came into the house, just as I was screaming, and asked me if I had some plain old flour...I pulled out a bag and he stuck my hand in it. He said to keep my hand in the flour for 10 Min's. which I did. He said that in Vietnam , this guy was on fire and in their panic, they threw a bag of flour all over him to put the fire out...well, it not only put the flour out, but he never even had a blister.

SO, long story short, I put my hand in the bag of flour for 10 mins, pulled it out and had not even a red mark or a blister and absolutely NO PAIN. Now, I keep a bag of flour in the fridge and every time I burn myself, I use the flour and never ONCE have I ever had a red spot, a burn or a blister! (cold flour feels even better than room temperature flour).

Miracle, if you ask me. Keep a bag of white flour in your fridge and you will be happy you did. I even burnt my tongue and put the flour on it for about 10 mins and the pain was gone and no burn. Try it! BTW, don't run your burn area under cold water first, just put it right into the flour for 10 mins and experience a miracle'.



Badger

Thanks to Barrie for airing this topic - probably few of us had heard of this alleged cure for burns and scalds - and to Peter Gotch for his link to it on Snopes. For those not familiar with it, Snopes is a handy website which assesses and demolishes (with seemingly appropriate reasoning and information) numerous urban legends, myths and items of misinfomation which are spread by e-mail and on the internet.

Peter - Did you already know of the Snopes item about the alleged flour cure or did you decide to check Snopes after reading and being suspicious about the information quoted by Barrie?

It is sad that one or more people somewhere have probably concocted the erroneous tale about flour being a cure, and even embellished and made it seem plausible, e.g. the reference to the Vietnam vet. Why on earth did they bother concocting such a tale and what did they think they would gain by it? Even sadder is the likelihood that various recipients of such nonsense, probably by e-mail, don't think to question it and simply perpetuate it by forwarding it to others.

Those of us who have had first aid training will tend to know that prompt cooling with cold water has long been and remains the best first aid treatment for burns and scalds. If the burnt or scalded areas are extensive and/or deep seated, then prompt medical attention is needed. Such attention should also be sought if first aid treatment of apparently localised or non deep-seated burns and scalds fails to be effective within say 10 to 15 minutes.

On a wider note, I wish all UK schools, for older primary age as well as secondary age pupils, would do what some enlightened schools already do and give their pupils training in first aid - a valuable life skill for older children as well as adults. Thus, armed with even basic knowledge and understanding of first aid, they would be able to readily question stupid stories like the alleged flour cure and choose not to perpetuate them!

WHAT!!!!
Flour is explosive :)

The old adage... Don't try this at work!

I'd advise to treat burns/scalds as per first aid training and leave the choice of 'remedies' for the home environment as there are hundreds that may (or may not) give benefits depending on what and how you use them!

teh boy - if you haven't already looked at the Snopes webpage cited by Peter Gotch you will see that the explosive capacity of airborne flour is rightly mentioned and constitutes a further reason to question the tale quoted (though not asserted) by Barrie. It also mentions several major flour explosions which have occurred at premises in the USA and caused multiple fatalities, including one as recent as 2008.

As for CRN Baker's comment about the nurse advising him to use baby oil, perhaps there's some confusion between first aid treatment - cooling the scalded/burnt areas - and subsequent medical treatment which presumably includes keeping the affected areas protected from dirt and infection. However, like CRN Baker, I have also heard of honey having antiseptic and/or antibacterial properties and therefore being suitable, allegedly, for burns and scalds AFTER they have been cooled. Anyone out there with medical knowledge or knows anyone with such knowledge who could throw more light on this aspect?

As always, using copious amounts of cold water is the best first aid treatment for cooling burnt/scalded skin. Part of my work includes receiving and scrutinising copies of accident reports from my employer's schools. Some reports relate to burns or scalds, e.g. pupils touching hot tripods during science practicals, and I'm glad to note that most of them mention water as the first aid treatment used. In nearly all such cases, prompt treatment with cold water is sufficient and no subsequent medical attention is required. However, if I see mention of burn sprays or gels, I tend to contact the schools involved if the burns/scalds have occurred where water was probably available. I have no issue with sprays or gels being taken for use during off-site activities where it is foreseeable that water may not always be readily available, but dislike seeing them kept with first aid stuff at premises where cold running water is available.

My wife is a nurse and they have used honey on her ward for wounds that don't respond to other treatments (they have also used maggot therapy as well!!!!)

it has to be a special type of honey tho (they don't just pop out to the local corner shop :) ) http://www.manukahoney.co.uk/

Some have called it maggot debridement therapy before as that's exactly what they do!

While it's you Graham:

MB1 is correct, "Biodebridement" or "Larval Therapy" are two terms regularly used.

Apparently the punters find these phases less offensive than references to maggots.

Chris... I couldn't possibly comment.

To bring this strand down further, what about custard powder? PG (and anyone else) - a challenge for you to recall where and when a tonne of it went bang!

And of course the thixotropic properties of hot custard are well known; a good napalm substitute, to get the discussion back to 'Nam.

I used to use custard powder in some of the special effects used in war films to make the flame more visible to the camera, there are lots of "domestic" products that can have excellent explo... um.. flam.. struggling here... "qualities" and should not be applied in a medical situation regarding burns.
Just thought I'd share that with you

Beat me to it!
Can top you sightly as I was there at the time (visiting service engineer) and was injured by flying glass.
Fortunately I was working in the labs where safety glasses were compulsory

Jim,

I've still got the General Foods report!

P

To alan w houghton I wasn't the person concerned and as the the thread has wandered to explosive atmoshperes plus Grahams last comment, did anyone attending the safety show last year see that stand blowing things up - sorry forgotten who the company was.

Badger

As a bee keeper I can say that the use of honey (or any variety - no special sort needed as implied earlier) has been used as a wound dressing since Greek and Roman times. Honey is hydroscopic and absorbs moisture helping to dry wounds. It also has antibiotic properties which again makes it suitable as a wound dressing and has been used as such in field hospitals for centuries. However it is a little difficult to transport and very sticky!!!!