Treating Minor Hot Oil Burns on the Skin

[Blueplanet]

When frying certain foods, some of the oil can splash on the skin. The old folks used to say, put butter on it. I prefer rinsing the skin with cold water and/or soaking in cold water. What methods do you prefer?

[Ilsa]

1. Butter will only worsen the burn.

The oil prevents the skin from cooling faster. Cool water is best, IMO followed by aloe vera. Honey also works as an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic.

[Blueplanet]

6. I agree.

Butter does not relieve the pain, but tends to make it worse. And, adding Aloe Vera is a good idea. Never heard of adding honey before.

[Raster]

2. cold water and then a generous glob of aloe

[malaise]

16. This n/t

[MontanaMama]

3. I just got a hot oil burn last week.

Hurt like hell!! I run cold water over the burn and then apply lavender oil. Reapply the lavender several times until the pain subsides. The next morning there was a little discoloring where the burn was but no pain, swelling or blistering. I need to get an aloe plant...that would be another good thing to have in kitchen.

[Ilsa]

5. And honey or aloe vera for after the skin has cooled. nt

[unitedwethrive]

35. No honey, it just provides food for any bacteria that happens to enter the area.

[Ilsa]

42. I should have said manuka honey:

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/manuka-honey-medicinal-uses

Honey has been used since ancient times to treat multiple conditions. It wasn't until the late 19th century that researchers discovered that honey has natural antibacterial qualities.

Honey protects against damage caused by bacteria. Some also boost production of special cells that can repair tissue damaged by infection. And honey has an anti-inflammatory action that can quickly ease pain and inflammation.

https://advancedtissue.com/2014/05/honey-can-help-wound-healing/

[sorcrow]

44. Actually honey should be fine.

Here's an interesting article

[link:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686636/|]

Honey works differently from antibiotics, which attack the bacteria's cell wall or inhibit intracellular metabolic pathways. Honey is hygroscopic, meaning it draws moisture out of the environment and thus dehydrates bacteria. Its sugar content is also high enough to hinder the growth of microbes, but the sugar content alone is not the sole reason for honey's antibacterial properties.

Honey also has a low pH that also has an antibacterial effect.

If you want to be extra careful, you can spring for medical honey. One brand is Medihoney, comes in tubes as well as honey impregnated pads. I used it as a nurse at a VA hospital.

Best regards,
Crow

[Blueplanet]

10. Aloe Vera Plant

MontanaMama:
I would like to buy an Aloe Vera plant. I need to do a search.

[OregonBlue]

27. Sometimes Home Depot has them.

[fierywoman]

29. I see long aloe vera leaves at Fred Meyer (Pac NW)

[OregonBlue]

43. Fred Meyer used to have house plants and I have

Purchased aloe vera plants there. Don't know if they still carry them though.

[marble falls]

4. Cold water with just enough ice to prevent freeze damaging tissue. The only good way ...

to immediately treat a burn, short of a third degree burn.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Purely anecdotal, but I had the following experience a few days ago.

I was frying bacon and accidentally splashed some of the hot grease up into the palm of my hand. I had some diced onion on the cutting board next to the stove and laid my hand on the onion (don't ask me why. It just seemed like a good idea at the time). It stopped the burn for a moment or two until I got to the sink to run cold water on the burn. Even though the area eventually developed a few blisters from the burn, I felt very little discomfort from the burn. I don't know if the onion had anything to do with that or not or if it was the quick rinsing with cold water. I didn't use any burn cream or first aid cream.

[USALiberal]

8. Lounge! Nt

[cwydro]

40. No kidding.

But I guess it beats the latest CT.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

9. Cold water then white vinegar.

White vinegar contains acetic acid, a component of aspirin that can help relieve the pain, itching, and inflammation of a burn. It is also an antiseptic and astringent, so it will help keep your burn from becoming infected. Vinegar also draws heat from the burn, helping to dull pain naturally. Soak paper towels in diluted vinegar to create a soothing compress or use cotton swabs to gently dab the burn with vinegar.

[Mendocino]

18. +1 on cold water/vinegar

Putting butter or oil traps the damaged skin from the air.

[Niagara]

11. Many years ago

I was frying chicken in a frying pan. I took the last piece of chicken out of the pan and the chicken slipped out of the tongs and fell back into the pan. When the piece of chicken fell into the pan, the hot oil splashed onto the back of my fingers, back of my hand and half way up my arm.

Some people swear by Aloe Vera but the stuff doesn't work for me. I always keep Neosporin in the house. It eases the burn pain and it helps the injuries heal nicely. Today, I can't even tell where the hot oil landed on my skin since there aren't any visible marks or scars.

BTW, I never fried chicken after that accident.

[Blueplanet]

17. Neosporin

Niagara:
Sounds like a good idea.
Chicken can easily slip out of the tongs back into the hot oil. I use a fork to turn the chicken. A fork will slightly pierce the chicken, but it is a safety measure for me.

[OregonBlue]

28. J&J makes a light burn cream with lidocaine and

Antibiotics.

[suegeo]

31. Neosporin allergy, nasty stuff

I tried it, got a terrible rash. Worse than the injury I was trying to heal. Many people are allergic to neosporin

Beware

[Niagara]

34. What works for one person may not work for another

There are people who are allergic to things found in first aid such as aloe vera, benadryl, and latex. I have to be careful which band aids that I purchase due to latex because it gives me a rash.

I'm grateful that I can use neosporin since its an item that relieves pain for me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. Cold water or even ice.

Then some anesthetic cream.

I find even the most minor burns to be very painful.

[Bev54]

13. Both

Cool it with cold water and then put butter on it or aloe etc. It does work, done many times.

[Codeine]

14. I'm such a baby when it comes to burns.

Cuts, scrapes, bruises, sprains, even fractured bones are all well within my ability to calmly tolerate but a tiny little burn and I’m like a whiny three year old.

Cold water and short applications of ice help, but I’m going to bitch and moan the whole time like I’ve been shot.

[Kali]

15. swear words with lots of hard consonants

[struggle4progress]

20. Thank you! When I'm in pain, I want something that really works,

not a bunch of old wives tales about ice and NSDAIDs and anesthetics and other such stuff!

[cynatnite]

19. Cold water and maybe some neosporin if I get a blister or two. n/t

[canetoad]

21. Anecdote from 30 years ago

I was a chef in my younger days. One day, shortly into lunch service I gave myself a fairly severe oil burn on the back of my right hand.

As my hands were going to be over a hot stove for the next couple of hours, I needed to keep it cool, so the first thing that came to mind was to slice a very large, cold tomato in half and gaffer-tape it tightly over the burn.

Worked well - kept the burn cool. When lunch was over and I unwrapped the tape, the tomato half was cooked but the burn healed very quickly with no scarring.

[Claritie Pixie]

22. Aloe plant. I have one in my kitchen. Break off a stem and dab every 15 minutes or so.

Has to be a plant - bottled aloe isn't the same.

[librechik]

23. I spray on some DMSO

same as I do for sprains. DMSO sucks out all the water, and the pain goes away in minutes and a day later you have an empty bubble of dead skin and new skin underneath. Works for me, not everybody I suppose.

[pnwmom]

24. But putting it under cold water ASAP can keep the burn from spreading into deeper layers of the skin

-- which happens for some seconds after removing burned skin from the heat source.

So that can help to avoid dead skin by arresting the burning process before it gets that far.

[librechik]

25. absolutely. Ice! btw

I have a Wiccan girlfriend who once advised me to expose the burn area to as much heat as possible, without actually burning again. "Fire takes fire," she said. I've tried it a few times, but cold water works much better!

[jpak]

26. I make a paste of cocaine and hash oil and apply it to my tongue

Works every time.

[MuseRider]

30. A doctor that was doing research on CoQ10 told me

to prick the end of a capsule of CoQ10 and squirt out some of the oil onto the burn. Also good for spider bites (probably other bites too) especially on brown spider bites. Anyway, I was talking to a friend and like a dope stuck the hand without the mitt into the oven and grabbed a tray of cookies and did not let go until it was out. It was a terrible burn and as a musician it might have cost me months of work but I immediately got the CoQ10 out and squirted it on the burned places and they never even turned red, just a slight pink and it was painless. I don't know but it worked for me in a major way and has worked with brown spiders, I have tons of them in the barn and have been bitten. It really worked for me but as all things go, YMMV.

I was uncertain myself but I am sold on it now.

[Blueplanet]

33. CoQ10

Very interesting. Something to keep in mind.

[Hekate]

46. That is amazing and I'll try to remember it!

[MuseRider]

47. I hope it works for you.

I was amazed but I don't know about any studies that have been published about it. It may have been my burn was not that bad, although just knowing what I did it had to be pretty bad. I hope it brings you relief if you need it.

[HipChick]

32. Don't cook...

works for me..

[Niagara]

36. That works too!

[Caliman73]

37. Cool water rinse.

Never butter. That makes the burn worse. You want to reduce the temperature on the skin. Ice can damage skin if left on too long too, so cool water, then maybe aloe or vitamin E the help soothe and repair the skin.

[yonder]

38. Yes, Vitamin E oil. Cut open the cap and rub it in after the cool water. Don't know about Aloe.

I used to get muffler/exhaust system burns from motorcycles often enough. It works for me.

[Lars39]

39. Cold water rinse, wash gently with soap, then aloe vera repeatedly

until it is gone. I'm interested in the CoQ10 method someone mentioned, too.

[pansypoo53219]

41. usually skin cream.

[Hekate]

45. A bag of frozen peas: available in nearly every freezer, cheap, wraps around...

...refreezable, and if you only do this once or twice, still edible. If for some reason (such as sore muscles) you need to keep refreezing it, just make a big mark on the bag so you don't mistakenly cook it, as its food value will have degraded.