Burn injuries are time-sensitive, as uncontrolled thermal energy continues to flow into the human skin the area and depth of the burn damage continue to increase. To stop the ongoing destruction of the skin the following must happen:
1 ) The source of thermal energy needs to stop
2 ) The heat energy now on the skin needs to be effectively dissipated
By dissipating the heat source we can cool down the burn area. The cooling down will effectively and efficiently dissipate the heat to prevent the expansion of the burn, it will also provide small pain relief and keep the burn injury small and shallow.
“A burn injury must be cooled with cool clean running water or 20 minutes” – International Burn Care Directive
In a pre-hospital setting you would need 60 litres of cool clean running water for each burn injury and this isn’t always accessible or easy to do so in every environment. In any situation where a 20 minute supply of cool running water is not available there are alternative solutions such as burn gels.
Before 2014 most burn gels & dressings on the market used tea-tree oil, while it had its benefits, it also had its cons. Using tea-tree oil meant that the liquid was opaque, meaning when it was applied it was extremely difficult to see the damage of the burn injury and it had a very strong odour.
Water-Jel recognised that there needed to be a change on the market, they needed to provide a clear gel so you could visualise the burn, remove the water resistant oil based residue and neutralise the strong odour of the tea-tree oil.
So why choose Water-Jel?
Water-Jel’s first responder range is now the only burn gel on the market that uses hyaluronic acid which is a naturally occurring polysaccharide (carbohydrate) in the human body.
Benefits of Water-Jel burns dressings:
– Sterile burn dressings suspended in a solution of 96% de-ionized water, with hyaluronic acid, and MicroKill® (antimicrobial preservation system)
– Cools the burn without the need for copious amounts of water
– Helps prevent hypothermia by cooling the burn not the patient
– Helps protect from further infection
– Helps control pain and provide patient comfort
Water-Jel Burn Dressings are sterile dressings that are soaked in 96% de-ionized water with hyaluronic acid. It cools down the burn using convection cooling without needing copious amounts of water. Cooling by means of convection rather than evaporation, Water-Jel draws heat to the surface and disperses it into the atmosphere. The burn is now cooling and protected from outside influences
The dressings also help prevent hypothermia of the patient and infection whilst providing some pain relief and patient comfort
Within the first responder range you can find specialised face dressings, hand dressings and a variety of other sized burn dressings including pre-made burns kits perfect for ambulances.