Burn injuries can impact your entire life, leaving you to deal with the physical pain, internal damage, and external scarring. There are three categories of severity that doctors use to diagnose burn injuries. These are the symptoms of each and what you must to do moving forward:
First-Degree Burns
With a first-degree burn injury, you may suffer only minor effects. You will experience redness of the skin in the affected area. You will also feel pain for at least a few days. Only the outer layer of skin—also called the epidermis—suffers damage with first-degree burns.
Second-Degree Burns
When you have a second-degree burn, you’ll recognize the symptoms worsen to below the epidermis. You’ll experience damage to the dermis—or the second layer of skin. On the surface, you will notice the affected area swelling and turning red or white.
In terms of pain, you can experience severe problems and the development of blisters. Second-degree burns can also cause long-term scarring.
Third-Degree Burns
Third-degree burns are the most severe you can experience. They go well beneath the layers of skin to the muscles, bones, fat, and tissue. These burns can damage your nerve endings in the affected area, and you may not feel long-term pain.
Third-degree burns can also give your skin a leathery appearance and feel, as well as a black, brown, or white hue. You must see a doctor whenever you suffer a severe burn injury, especially when the cause of the burn is electrical or chemical. These types of burns can also cause internal organ damage.
Kershaw Talley Barlow goes above and beyond to help you understand your rights to pursue compensation. Our Sacramento burn injury lawyers explain your options every step of the way. We’ll be on your side from start to finish because you deserve to have caring and committed advocacy after a negligence-related injury.