Modeling Skin Injury from Hot Rice Porridge Spills.

Torgrim Log

doi:10.3390/ijerph15040808

Abstract

The present work analyzes skin burns from spills of hot rice and milk products. The traditional Norwegian rice porridge serves as an example. By testing spills on objects emulating an arm, it was concluded that spills were seldom thinner than 3 mm, and stayed in place due to the viscosity of the porridge for more than one minute. The Pennes bioheat equation was solved numerically for such spills, including heat conduction to the skin and convective heat losses from the porridge surface. Temperatures were analyzed in the porridge and skin layers, and the resulting skin injury was calculated based on the basal layer temperature. Parameters influencing burn severity, such as porridge layer thickness, porridge temperature, removal of the porridge and thermal effects of post scald tempered (15 °C) water cooling were analyzed. The spilled porridge resulted in a prolonged heat supply to the skin, and the skin injury developed significantly with time. The porridge temperature turned out to be the most important injury parameter. A 70 °C porridge temperature could develop superficial partial-thickness burns. Porridge temperatures at processing temperatures nearly instantly developed severe burns. It was demonstrated that prompt removal of the hot porridge significantly reduced the injury development. The general advice is to avoid serving porridge and similar products at temperatures above 65 °C and, if spilled on the skin, to remove it quickly. After such scald incidents, it is advised to cool the injured area by tempered water for a prolonged period to stimulate healing.

Highlights

The analysis presented in the present work is based on solving the Fourier-type heat transfer equation numerically
The base case (Case A) was modeled with an epidermis thickness of 60 μm and a 3 mm thick porridge layer at 70 ◦ C spilled to the skin and left on the skin for 60 s
This is, to some extent, in contrast to the results obtained from scalding with hot water, where the first 5 s period is most critical for injury development [17,29]

Summary

Introduction

Approximately 265,000 burn-related deaths occur every year. It is experienced that burns are a common injury in all societies. These burns may be a result of hot liquid and hot food spills, contact with hot surfaces, exposure to hot gases, and thermal radiation. In a single country like Bangladesh, about 173,000 children under 18 suffer from burn injuries every year [1]. In the USA, burns result in about half a million patients seeking medical treatment at hospital emergency departments. Burns are treated at clinics, local health centers, and by private medical offices [2]. To stimulate the healing of severe burns is difficult

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