Burn photos — real treatment cases

This burn on the patient's shin came from skin touching the hot exhaust of a motorbike. The burn had happened two weeks before the patient came to Dialine, and in that time they had been treated for several sessions at another centre, but the wound had still not closed. An exhaust burn is often deeper than it first looks, because the skin has touched very hot metal. At Dialine we continued treatment with dressings and regular wound care. The session 5 photo may look worrying at first, but it shows signs of healing: the yellow dead tissue that covered the centre in session 1 is gone, and thin, pale new skin, growing in from the edges and from the hair roots, now covers most of the wound; the dark dots mark those spots. The purple ring around it is discolouration left by the burn, not infection, and it fades over time. Treatment is ongoing. The images on this page follow it up to the fifth session.

Steam scalded this patient's wrist, causing a first- and second-degree burn. At the first visit the skin over the burn was red and inflamed; the blister at its centre had been deroofed, leaving a moist, tender surface underneath. With staged dressing and care the inflammation settled and new skin formed over the burned area. By the third visit the surface had dried, the superficial layers were flaking away, and only a faint mark of the burn remained. The photographs here are from the first visit and the third.

This patient had diabetes and severe diabetic neuropathy. Pain sensation in the foot was greatly reduced, so while cooking they did not feel the foot touch a hot surface, and only realised hours later, when blisters appeared. In diabetic neuropathy that loss of sensation is exactly what lets a burn happen painlessly and be recognised late. At the first visit we examined the skin and the wound for the depth of tissue damage, the state of the wound bed and any signs of infection, and chose the treatment to match what we found. Over the following sessions we followed the healing, the condition of the tissue and the risk of complications. The images on this page show the stages of treatment and follow-up, and are updated after each session.

First- and second-degree burns involving the face, hands and feet. This is the complete set of photographs from the course — the face, the back of the hand and the lower leg, from the first session through to the end. The early frames show an open burn surface; a dark eschar then forms over it, fresh red tissue appears as that separates, and in the final frames the skin is closed and even in tone. The last two images are the clinic's own start-and-end comparisons.