Abstract
Background and aimContact burn injuries to the hand are common in the paediatric population, with the most common aetiology involving touching hot surfaces in the household. The hand is also often involved in paediatric scald injuries. The aim of this study was to determine the different presentations of hand burn injuries and analyse the outcomes in the paediatric population at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH).MethodsAnonymised clinic data for paediatric patients with hand burns presenting to our burn centre from 2017 to 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 52 patients (65 affected hands) were included in the study. Clinic letters stored on NHS Grampian’s electronic patient record system were reviewed for burn surface area, time to healing, management measures including medications prescribed and sequelae of the burn injury.ResultsThe average patient age was three years and four months old. There were 31 male patients and 21 female patients. Paediatric hand burns were most commonly confined to the palm only, followed by the fingers only. Contact with a hob was the most common aetiology, followed by scald burns. The average time to healing was 10 days (range 2-28 days). No correlation was found between length of stay on initial hospital admission and time to complete healing. A total of 86.5% (n=45) of patients were managed with dressings and 13.5% (n=7) of patients underwent surgical management. Of these seven patients, four had surgical debridement of burn tissue, washout, and dressing, and the remaining three had an excision and grafting with thick split-thickness skin grafts. Of these three patients, one patient had to undergo secondary reconstruction with a full-thickness skin graft.ConclusionIt has been found that most patients in this study completely healed with primarily conservative measures of dressing care and regular check-ups. Isolated hand burns in the paediatric population present a low rate of sequelae and palms are the most common area of burn injury in this demographic.
Highlights
Children are curious by nature and as soon they become independently mobile, they start to use their hands to explore their environment
Paediatric hand burns were most commonly confined to the palm only, followed by the fingers only
Injury to the hands/digits occurs in 35% of the burn cases in patients ages
Summary
Children are curious by nature and as soon they become independently mobile, they start to use their hands to explore their environment. This process is a crucial step in their overall development. Children lack the thick glabrous skin of adults, thermal hand injuries can be deep and result in significant physical consequences and long-lasting psychological effects [6]. Contact burn injuries to the hand are common in the paediatric population, with the most common aetiology involving touching hot surfaces in the household. The aim of this study was to determine the different presentations of hand burn injuries and analyse the outcomes in the paediatric population at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH)
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