Can you treat burns with flour

If the burn was caused by scalding water, Carson said flour might help in absorbing moisture but otherwise did not see any benefits as claimed in the post.

The use of food to treat burns or wounds is not advisable and carries risks, he said, though sugar has sometimes been used to heal wounds because of its ability to soak up extra moisture. Grease gets hotter than water, so you could make it worse.

More: Fact check: Cream of tartar may make you sick but won't cure migraines. The fact-checking website Snopes — which investigated this claim nearly a decade ago — found a medical journal in the s that said flour could prevent scarring, but its advice appears to be nothing more than folk medicine.

In addition to cooling the burn, the American Academy of Dermatology also advises:. Dr Sam Mandell, a burn care specialist at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and an associate professor of surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine here , also told Reuters via email that the flour could be painful to clean off wounds and that there is no evidence to support flour as a treatment for burns.

Jeffrey W. It also could accelerate the proliferation of bacteria increasing the chances for wound infection. Henry Schiller, MD, a surgeon specialising in burns from the non-profit academic medical centre, the Mayo Clinic here , agreed that flour would make the job of medical professionals dealing with the burn more difficult and should therefore not be put on burns.

Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 6 months ago. Active 6 years ago. Viewed 19k times. FW: Burn Remedy My experience with burns is this: Once I was cooking some corn and stuck my fork in the boiling water to see if the corn was ready. Is there any scientific evidence to back up this claim? Improve this question. Monkey Tuesday Monkey Tuesday The flour would likely have caused a dust explosion. This is ridiculous. Konrad: That was actually my first thought too.

Although, I rationalized it to myself by thinking an explosion happening would depend on how much the flour had dissipated, the intensity of the fire, and probably would be affected by the relative humidity of the environment.

All that aside, I was more asking about the later claim of it being able to treat burns, not actively put out the fire. Dumping a very large amount of flour could very well douse the flames by blocking their access to oxygen, just like other powder and foam based fire extinguishers.

Assuming the victim is on the floor and only part of him on fire say the legs , an industrial sized bag of flour should probably be enough for that. Won't cure the burns, but should prevent worse. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Thus, it helps if used within 15 minutes for a burnt patient. When someone shares a value that benefits you, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.

So I share this with others. The viral post, which was spread on the advice of a Vietnamese veterinarian, has been translated from an English post and has gone viral in Tamil. In addition, our search revealed that the record has been viral on the Internet since When asked about this, Dr.

First Degree is a common thing we encounter in the kitchen. Such injuries can cause pain and redness but are usually self-healing without any scarring.

When a person has these types of burns they should be immediately exposed to water for 5 to 10 minutes. Once the area is cooled, it dries and heals automatically. No cream or antibiotics are needed if there are no signs of infection.

Second degree and Third-degree burns can affect the deeper layer of the skin, causing scarring. In such cases, expose the wound in water immediately and go to the doctor.

Apart from this, flour, paste, butter etc. Many people use it because they do not harm them. However, first-degree wounds go away without scarring, whether treated or not, but scars do occur to 2nd and 3rd-degree wounds.