A MUM has shared devastating photos of her little girl’s hands after she fell into a fire pit while camping.
The tot called Dusty was rushed to a shower, where her mum ensured cold running water rushed over her daughters searing hands and arms.
Dusty had fallen into a fire pit while on a camping holidayInstagram/@tinyheartseducation
Previous research has found that cool running water can minimise the extent or depth of the burnInstagram/@tinyheartseducation
Instagram/@tinyheartseducationAlmost a year after the horrific accident, the parents are still taking their child for weekly skin grafting[/caption]
“Her skin peeled and fell to my feet,” the mum explained.
“But instead of having double actions I knew we were doing all we could in that moment,” she said.
Previous research has found that cool running water can minimise the extent or depth of the burn and speed up healing.
Almost a year after the horrific accident, the parents are still taking their child to hospital for weekly skin grafting to rebuild her hands.
A skin graft is where healthy skin is removed from an unaffected area of the body and used to cover lost or damaged skin.
The anonymous mum, who sent her story to the TinyHeartsEducation Instagram page, said Dusty was “doing well and there has been lots of progression.”
The mum hopes the pictures will serve as a reminder to parents to be “vigilant” ahead of camping season and ensure fires are put out and sealed off.
“Sometimes it’s important to share so mums and dads can see that these terrible accidents can happen so quickly,” she said.
Dusty’s story can also help raise awareness of how burns ought to be treated, the mum added.
Not long before the accident, the mum had read a post from the first aider at TinyHeartsEducation on how to treat burns.
“This meant I was able to react fast and confidently that running water was the best,” she said.
“Previously, I had always thought submerging in a bath was best,” she added.
Preventing burns and scalds
Many severe burns and scalds affect babies and young children.
The NHS says there are a number of things you can do to help reduce the likelihood of your child having a serious accident at home including:
keeping your child out of the kitchen whenever possibletesting the temperature of bath water using your elbow before you put your baby or toddler in the bathkeeping matches, lighters and lit candles out of young children’s sight and reachkeeping hot drinks well away from young children
Meanwhile, teachers have been warned to watch children when outside after a pupil suffered horrific third-degree burns after touching ‘UK’s most dangerous plant’.
The young tot had been playing in Longsight Park in the Harwood area of Manchester when she touched the hazardous wild flowering plant in October.
She was rushed to A&E – prompting her primary school to issue an urgent warning.
The dangerous plant often grows along hedgerows and looks like cow-parsley, making it even more dangerous to unsuspecting walkers.
Treating burns
To treat a first-degree burn, the NHS recommend the following tips:
immediately get the person away from the heat source to stop the burningcool the burn with cool or lukewarm running water for 20 minutes – don’t use ice, iced water, or any creams or greasy substances such as butterremove any clothing or jewellery that’s near the burnt area of skin, including babies’ nappies – but don’t move anything that’s stuck to the skinmake sure the person keeps warm – by using a blanket, for example, but take care not to rub it against the burnt areacover the burn by placing a layer of cling film over it – a clean plastic bag could also be used for burns on your handuse painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to treat any painif the face or eyes are burnt, sit up as much as possible, rather than lying down – this helps to reduce swelling