Accidents happen. Here's how to handle them.
I remember hearing some restaurant cooks talk, with an air of trumped-up machismo, about how they liked to “burn a cut,” ostensibly to seal it. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this remedy is a fast track to infection and, possibly, permanent nerve damage. Between the stove, oven, microwave, tea kettle, pots, and pans—not to mention all the liquids cooking in those pots and pans—there are a lot of ways to burn yourself in a kitchen.
“Usually if you burn yourself on a metal pot or surface, your instinct is to withdraw, and the burning activity stops. Then you can run the skin under cool—not cold—water,” says Dr. Baskin. “I do not advise using ice with burns, because the skin has been damaged in a burn, and it can be dangerous to apply ice, which can further damage the unprotected skin.
After a few minutes of running the injured skin under cool water, assess the damage. “If it’s just red like a sunburn, the cool water should have helped, and then you can put a cool compress on, and take an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory pain reliever like Tylenol, Motrin, or ibuprofen,” Baskin says. Neither Baskin nor Cudden nor Cynamon thought that putting any lotions or antibiotic ointments on burns, especially if the skin is still intact, would help.
The signs of a more serious second- or third-degree burn are: The skin starts to peel or break down; immediate blistering; and severe pain. But also note that no pain at all is dangerous: “It may not feel like anything at first, because the nerves have been burned out,” Cynamon says. You may even smell the skin burning, which is going to smell “like barbecue,” he says, not just like burnt arm hair. Regardless, do not wash a third-degree burn, and seek medical attention immediately.
Finally, ask yourself when you last got a tetanus shot. If you can’t remember, or it was more than 10 years ago, it’s time to call your primary care doctor to get one within 24 hours of your cut. Because kitchens are full of potential contamination, any cut could become a site for infection.“A clean cut from a knife is easier to evaluate than a cut from a food processor blade,” says Dr. Baskin. The first thing you want to do is sit down, so you don’t fall over or pass out.
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