Holistic Healing by Liz Mund
Burns are a nasty affair. If you’ ve never experienced a second or third degree burn, count your skin lucky. My recent experience with a severe burn from an oil fire was the impetus for this article, specifically the healing process that followed. Apparently, burns are such a specialized field that even experienced emergency room doctors aren’ t comfortable making concrete diagnoses.
This is my hand 24 hours( 1) and 48 hours( 2)( respectively) from time of accident.
18 April / May
After being sent directly to urgent care by my nurse friend when she saw my hand, I was seen by three nurses, two doctors and the surgery team, all of whom agreed that I be seen by specialists. I was referred to the burn clinic at a different hospital. This was not encouraging.
When you hurt yourself, there is that part of you that knows when it is bad enough to seek help. This was one of those times. So I listened as the head surgeon of the burn team told me that there was little to no chance that I would not need a skin graft in the near future, and that in the meantime I was to keep my hand above my heart when possible, clean the wound two times a day, slather it with prescription cream, wrap, cover, repeat. My questions about alternative methods weren’ t scoffed at but were dismissed pleasantly.
8 days in On my third visit to the clinic, eighteen days from ground zero, the team was still holding firm that a graft was more than likely, but sensing my hesitation agreed that time couldn’ t hurt and I could wait another week if I wanted to. I most certainly did. The idea of three days in hospital for surgery to relocate a slice of my thigh was not one I enjoyed contemplating. I was not ready to give up. After the slew of doctors left, one of the nurses( who I secretly thought of as my personal cheerleader) told me I could stop the prescription cream in lieu of a generic topical antibiotic on any open wound areas, begin using lotion around the healing edges( Ohhh, almost like actual scratching), and
1
2 continue the hand and finger stretches I had started on my own.
This small bit of freedom was an inspiration— a bubble of hope that perhaps surgery might be avoidable. So, I buckled down and did a LOT of research, deciding it was time to add my own course of treatment, in addition to what the burn team already prescribed.
This first picture( 3) is of the burn the day I stopped using the sulphadiazine cream( 5 weeks).
3 The second( 4) is two weeks later. See that green stuff around my fingers? That is Manitoba Harvest’ s 100 percent percent organic pressed hemp oil! Here I must add a disclaimer: I used the hemp oil in the morning and evening but also
4 applied NOW’ s 100 percent lavender oil,( both purchased at my local Vitamin Cottage) as well as Padanjaly LTD’ s ayurvedic balm from India( purchased online at padanjaly. com) twice daily. And to the good doctors: did continue to wash with antibacterial soap and cover any open areas with antibiotic.
Lavender oil is a given, and should be a staple in any first aid kit. As for the ayruvedic balm,( once translated) the ingredients were benign( extracts of banana, coconut, cumin?) If you can eat it, you can apply it( a logical rule of thumb). Last and definitely not least, why hemp seed oil? The most important aspect of healing a burn( aside from preventing infection) is keeping the area from drying out. Hemp seed oil is skin friendly due to its high concentration( 80 percent) of essential( unsaturated) fatty acids, linoleic acid( LA) and alpha-linoleic acid( ALA) as well as gamma-linoleic acid( GLA). GLA is used to treat dry skin, eczema, psoriasis and scars, and is a rare natural occuring ingredient. There are other oils that possess the similar ingredients( LA and ALA) and even the scarcer GLA, such as primrose and borage. But H. S. E has a little secret advantage: The ratio of LA and ALA in hemp seed oil is 3:1. In borage oil it is 30:1. Human skin? 4:1. The proximity in essential acid ratios of hemp seed oil and our skin allows for moisture to be absorbed rather than laying on top like an oil slick.( Think back to ninth grade, laying out in the backyard slathered in baby oil.)
On top of being an excellent moisturizer, hemp seed oil is