The majority of ancient burn care consisted of topical therapies and can be traced back to centuries. It was not until the past 50 years that the mortality of burns has been dramatically improved, thanks to the better understanding of the patho-physiology of burn injury. However, this was not reflected in improving survival and many patients still died of shock and infection. There was an exponential increase in biomedical research and knowledge from the 18 th to early 20 th century in burn care, such as the recognition of the importance of burn surface area and skin grafting by Reverdin. Physicians have searched for and formulated a myriad of treatments for burns over the centuries but these treatments mostly were of little benefit to the victims mainly because the fundamental understanding of the patho-physiological impact of burns was not known yet. Burns are still one of the top causes of death and disability in the world. We also briefly discuss some future directions in burn care such as the use of cell and pharmalogical therapies.īurn injuries are amongst one of the most devastating of all injuries, having a great impact on the patients physically, physiologically and psychologically. The introduction of metabolic care, nutritional support and care of inhalational injuries further improved the outcome of burn patients. Advancements in the methods of assessing the surface area of burns paved way for more accurate fluid resuscitation, minimising the effects of shock and avoiding fluid over-loading. This along with the advent of antiseptic surgical techniques, burn depth classification and skin grafting allowed the excision and coverage of full-thickness burns which resulted in greatly improved survival rates. ![]() The use of systemic antibiotics and topical silver therapy greatly reduced sepsis related mortality. ![]() Most major advances in burn care occurred in the last 50 years, spurred on by wars and great fires. In this article we look back at how the treatment of burns has evolved over the centuries from a primarily topical therapy consisting of weird and wonderful topical concoctions in ancient times to one that spans multiple scientific fields of topical therapy, antibiotics, fluid resuscitation, skin excision and grafting, respiratory and metabolic care and nutrition. Burn injuries are one of the most common and devastating afflictions on the human body.
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