Rumor: Once I accidentally touched my hand to boiling water, a Vietnamese friend happened to come to my house, immediately took out a bag of flour and asked me to put my hand in the flour for 10 minutes and then take it out, the result is no red marks or blisters of burns on my hand! Now, I always keep a bag of flour in the fridge, and every time I accidentally burn myself, I use the flour on my hands, and not once is there a red mark or blister. Note: Cold flour works better than room temperature flour! The truth is: whether the burn will be red, swollen and blistered, whether the scar will remain and the depth of the burn, and what food to put on it has nothing to do with. Flour is not helpful for the relief of burns, wound healing, and is not clean, and may cause infection and other adverse consequences when applied to the burns. The flour does not count to analyze whether the flour is useful after the scalding, we must first know why the redness and blisters of the scalding are produced. The essence of burns and burns is that the high temperature has caused damage to the tissue. The capillary wall within the dermis expands because of heat damage, permeability increases, and plasma leaks out into the blood vessels, resulting in local skin erythema and edema. If the capillary wall is severely damaged and too much fluid is exuded, this exudate accumulates between the epidermis and dermis to form blisters. The depth of tissue damage determines whether the clinical manifestation of the burn is erythema, blistering or skin necrosis, and whether permanent scarring will be left, while the breadth and depth of this damage depends on the temperature of the heat source, the magnitude of the heat energy and the duration of action. (For how to identify the depth of burns, see: [In-depth medical science] Identification of the depth of burns. If the heat source is not removed immediately after a burn to reduce the local skin temperature of the burn, the heat energy will spread and spread through the skin, deepening the originally superficial injury, causing blisters to form that should not have formed and scarring that should not have left a scar. Therefore, rapid cooling is the first task of first aid for burns (which is probably the reason why “cold flour works better”), but it is obviously easier and faster to find cold water than cold flour (unless the injured person is in a flour mill), and more effective in cooling. The risks of applying flour …… For burns, applying flour not only has little effect in eliminating the heat source (cooling), but also does not help in wound healing, and may even bring the risk of wound infection, aggravating the injury and leading to scarring. If the skin of the scalded area is damaged, the barrier capacity will be reduced, making it more susceptible to bacterial infection, which is a negative factor affecting wound healing, so preventing wound infection by all means is also an important task in the treatment of scalded areas. Flour itself is not sterile, and long-term storage of flour is susceptible to contamination by various bacteria, molds and mites. The use of such flour on the fragile wound will undoubtedly increase the chances of wound infection. Secondly, if the burns are serious and require medical attention, the flour stuck to the wound will affect the doctor’s judgment of the injury. The flour fixed on the wound will also make cleaning difficult, and the difficulty of the cleaning process will increase the pain of the injured person. Therefore, after a burn, do not go to the kitchen to look for oil, salt and vinegar ingredients, and do not touch the flour and toothpaste things. What about accidental burns? As mentioned before, after the burn should be scrambled to reduce the temperature of the scalded parts, the simplest way is to look for cold water, ice, quickly and effectively reduce the local skin temperature, so that the heat does not penetrate to the depths, but also to make capillary constriction, reducing the occurrence of blisters. A cold water continuous shower for several minutes is the recommended method (Note: Do not use vigorous water flushing, as it may cause skin breakdown and increase the difficulty of recovery. As long as the cold water flows over the surface of the burn, it can play a cooling role.) This is not only to reduce the local skin temperature, but also to play a certain role in cleaning. Smaller wounds can be immersed in cold water or ice water to cool them down. If the scalded area is covered with clothing, remove the hot and wet clothing first as soon as possible, if the clothing is not good enough to remove, you can cut them and then remove them to protect the skin of the wound and reduce the pain of the injured person. The key to these treatments is to be quick, not to reduce the temperature of the scalded area to as low as possible. After completing the above first aid measures, assess the depth of the burn and take the appropriate treatment according to the injury: If the skin surface is only red and swollen with a burning sensation without blisters, it is a first-degree burn that requires no special treatment and will heal naturally in 3 to 7 days. After the skin has healed, there may be transient pigmentation (“blackening”) for a few weeks, but it will gradually disappear and will not leave a scar. If the burn has significant local redness and blister formation, it is a second degree burn. If the blister is small, you can wait until it absorbs and disappears on its own. Try to avoid touching the blister to prevent infection. To prevent bacterial infection of the wound, topical antibacterial drugs such as silver sulfadiazine cream or Bactrim can be used under the guidance of a doctor. It has also been suggested that dressings containing nanosilver are helpful for wound healing [3]. If the blister is large, or if the blister breaks, or if there is a serious condition such as loss of skin sensation on the trauma, prompt medical attention should be sought to avoid adverse consequences due to improper self-disposal. Conclusion: Rumor mongering. The best treatment after a burn is a cold water shower to cool down (be careful not to cause skin damage to the burned area) and to prevent wound infection. Do not apply oil, salt, vinegar, flour and toothpaste on your own. This will not help, but may cause wound infection and aggravate the damage resulting in scarring. For large and serious burns, please seek medical attention after emergency cooling to avoid adverse consequences due to improper disposal by yourself.