Burn update
Nov. 13th, 2002 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidThree weeks ago, I gave myself second degree burns on two fingers (Yes, I did it in a stupid, thoughtless, way. At least the fish tasted good with hot pepper jam on it.). I ended up with blisters on both, nice big fat ones, rather fascinating, actually.
One broke, and I watched it through the week as it drained, making sure that anything that seemed to be heading towards infection came out. Then there was a scab, which came off last week, and now I have a slightly shiny pinker patch on that finger.
On the other finger, the mondo blister stayed, and stayed, and stayed, impressing those who saw it. Many people asked why I didn't just pop it. Partly because the places I looked said not to pop blisters, partly because it just wasn't appealing with that big a blister, and partly because then I could compare what happens when you do/do not pop them. After a week and a half, the blister started to drain, just a little bit. There was more give in the distended skin, different sense of touch. Each morning it seemed there was less liquid in it (still don't know where it went). By last weekend, there was almost no liquid left, and the skin started to hard, lizard-like. For a couple of days it would be softer during the day, but that stopped. Now I had a thick layer of hardened skin on my fingertip, hard enough that it made a sound not unlike a nail when I tapped it on a hard surface. Just yesterday, I started to feel it might be time it came off. I think I spent a lot of time touching it yesterday, without even paying attention. This morning, there were cracks in the dead skin, and this afternoon, I encouraged those to a point where I got most of the thick dead skin off. Underneath, the finger is shiny and two shades of pink (apparently the middle of the burn was a bit worse). The skin is a bit sensitive, but it's nice to have a vaguely normal digit back.
I hope the scars fade relatively quickly...
c
One broke, and I watched it through the week as it drained, making sure that anything that seemed to be heading towards infection came out. Then there was a scab, which came off last week, and now I have a slightly shiny pinker patch on that finger.
On the other finger, the mondo blister stayed, and stayed, and stayed, impressing those who saw it. Many people asked why I didn't just pop it. Partly because the places I looked said not to pop blisters, partly because it just wasn't appealing with that big a blister, and partly because then I could compare what happens when you do/do not pop them. After a week and a half, the blister started to drain, just a little bit. There was more give in the distended skin, different sense of touch. Each morning it seemed there was less liquid in it (still don't know where it went). By last weekend, there was almost no liquid left, and the skin started to hard, lizard-like. For a couple of days it would be softer during the day, but that stopped. Now I had a thick layer of hardened skin on my fingertip, hard enough that it made a sound not unlike a nail when I tapped it on a hard surface. Just yesterday, I started to feel it might be time it came off. I think I spent a lot of time touching it yesterday, without even paying attention. This morning, there were cracks in the dead skin, and this afternoon, I encouraged those to a point where I got most of the thick dead skin off. Underneath, the finger is shiny and two shades of pink (apparently the middle of the burn was a bit worse). The skin is a bit sensitive, but it's nice to have a vaguely normal digit back.
I hope the scars fade relatively quickly...
c
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no subject
Date: 2002-11-13 12:33 pm (UTC)What's the verdict for next time? Pop or leave alone? Hopefully there won't be a next time . . .
no subject
Date: 2002-11-13 12:46 pm (UTC)The verdict: not sure. The popped one healed a bit faster, but I think it was a less severe burn than the other one.
Also, I found I definitely didn't want to pop the one that didn't pop on its own; not sure if that was a function of severity of burn a bit, too, the body wanting to do what it should, etc etc etc.