Most minor burns will heal on their own, and home treatment is usually all that is needed to relieve your symptoms and promote healing. But if you suspect you may have a more severe injury, use first-aid measures while you arrange for an evaluation by your doctor.
First, stop the burning to prevent a more severe burn.
Heat burns (thermal burns): Smother any flames by covering them with a blanket or water. If your clothing catches fire, do not run: stop, drop, and roll on the ground to smother the flames.
Cold temperature burns: Try first aid measures to warm the areas. Small areas of your body (ears, face, nose, fingers, toes) that are really cold or frozen can be warmed by blowing warm air on them, tucking them inside your clothing or putting them in warm water.
Liquid scald burns (thermal burns): Run cool tap water over the burn for 10 to 20 minutes. Do not use ice.
Electrical burns: After the person has been separated from the electrical source, check for breathing and a heartbeat. If the person is not breathing or does not have a heartbeat, take the patient to the nearest hospital
Tar or hot plastic burns: Immediately run cold water over the hot tar or hot plastic      to cool the tar or plastic.
      Next, look for other injuries. The burn may not be the only injury.
      Remove any jewelry or clothing at the site of the burn. If clothing is stuck to the burn, do not remove it. Carefully cut around the stuck fabric to remove loose fabric. Remove all jewelry, because it may be hard to remove it later if swelling occurs.
What do you put on a burn?
Treatments for a first-degree burn include: soaking the wound in cool water for five minutes or longer and taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain relief. Applying lidocaine (an anesthetic) with aloe vera gel or cream to soothe the skin and using an antibiotic ointment and loose gauze can protect the affected area.
How do you make a burn feel better?
For home treatment of first-degree burns and sunburns:
Use cool cloths on burned areas.
Take frequent cool showers or baths.
Apply soothing lotions that contain aloe vera to burned areas to relieve pain and swelling. Applying 0.5% hydrocortisone cream to the burned area also may help
What do you do when you burn yourself?
Cool the skin with running cool or tepid water for at least 10 minutes, ideally within 20 minutes of the injury happening. This will prevent the burn getting worse. Do not use ice, iced water, creams, or greasy substances (such as butter) to soothe the burn
Advanced burn wound treatment
A common dressing for mild to moderate burn wounds would be a hydrocolloid dressing, a simple patch-type dressing with gel forming agents inside of a flexible water-resistant outer layer. These are effective, simple to apply, and require minimal maintenance, only needing to be changed every three to five days.
Hydrogel dressings are more commonly used for blistering wounds and consist of a hydrating polymer layer that both soothes pain and provides adequate moisture to facilitate healing. Hydrogel dressings require a loosely wrapped gauze layer to hold it in place.
In the case of third-degree burns, advanced wound treatment will be handled by your medical care provider unless directed otherwise, as treatment will likely involve extensive debriding (the removal of necrotic tissue), the use of skin grafts, and potentially physical therapy.
For second degree burns and beyond, medical treatment should always be sought for the best chances of the wound healing properly. If you put off treatment, this can lead to further complications, or the worsening of symptoms.
It should be noted that the wound dressings used in treating higher degree burns will be prescribed by your clinician and should be covered by your insurance. Minor wound care products will most likely not covered by insurance and can be purchased over-the-counter.
A basic understanding of burn wound treatment can reduce pain and facilitate healing of all four types of burns. Burns are specifically damage caused to one or multiple layers of skin and flesh by external sources such as heat or chemicals, and range in severity from minor to major. The level of severity is denoted by the “degree,” with each degree noting a higher level of damage starting at first degree and moving as far as the fourth degree. Understanding and identifying burns properly will increase your chances of successful treatment and effective healing.
Types of burns
First-Degree or superficial burns are identified by pain, redness, minor swelling and an absence of blistering.
Second-Degree burns produce a slight thickness of the skin and may include blistering, indicating damage has been done to the underlying layers of skin.
Third-Degree burns feature leathery, waxen skin and are commonly accompanied by numbness due to full damage to the dermis and surrounding nerves.
Fourth-degree burns have extended past the skin layers and into the flesh, causing charring and irreparable damage.