Low-temperature burns may cause cancer! How to use portable heating equipment safely?

The first cold wave of the year is coming!

Recently, the China Meteorological Administration issued a cold wave warning, stating that from January 23 to 27, there will be widespread strong winds, cooling temperatures, rain and snow in my country, and the temperature in most parts of the country will drop by 8 to 12℃.

When the Spring Festival travel rush meets the cold wave, many people have prepared various heating products, such as heat packs, hot water bottles, electric blankets... none of them can be missing! However, do you really know how to use these heating products? How to avoid low-temperature burns when using them? Once a burn occurs, how to deal with it?

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Low temperatures can also cause skin burns

"'Low-temperature burns' is not a concept in the sense of medical diagnosis. What ordinary people call 'low-temperature burns' mainly refers to slow burns that occur when the skin is exposed to heat sources for tens of minutes or hours," said Shu Chang, deputy chief physician of the Department of Dermatology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

This type of burn usually occurs locally, and the emergency treatment is roughly the same as that of ordinary acute burns. First, you need to get away from the heat source, and then apply local cold compresses to the red, swollen or painful skin. If blisters and ulcers have already occurred, the key is to keep the affected area clean and hygienic, and apply topical antibiotic ointment to prevent secondary infection.

Repeated exposure of the skin to relatively low-temperature heat sources or infrared rays may also lead to chronic thermal damage, which manifests as dark red reticular stripes on a pigmented background, somewhat similar to "python lines", and is medically known as erythema irritans (EAI).

▲The picture shows "erythema irritans" (picture from https://dermnetnz.org/)

Some people have been using hot water bottles to keep their hands and feet warm, and over time, a reticular pattern has appeared on their skin. Most people don't realize that this "irritation erythema" is the body's warning of heat damage.

It is worth noting that this type of chronic thermal damage is not as simple as the appearance of spots. In severe cases, it may lead to secondary skin squamous cell carcinoma. Because this type of thermal damage is often accompanied by atrophy and thinning of the epidermis and dermis and abnormal vascular dilation, the resulting skin changes are usually difficult to reverse in the short term. Long-term recurrence of certain erythema irritans may also lead to secondary skin squamous cell carcinoma decades later. Therefore, after this type of thermal damage occurs, try to protect the skin, wait for the body to repair itself naturally and slowly, and avoid re-scalding the affected area. At the same time, pay attention to local moisturizing protection for a long time to avoid skin irritation.

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The temperature that hurts the skin may not be hot!

Ancient documents have recorded that housewives who cook at home with fires exposed to the stove for a long time have reticular erythema and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin on their calves. There are also cases of such skin thermal damage caused by using hand warmers for heating. In recent years, the use of portable heating devices such as hot packs has gradually increased, but burns are inevitable during use.

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In addition to avoiding low-temperature burns when using heating devices such as hand warmers, hot water bottles, heating patches, electric blankets, and heated kangs, you should also be careful to avoid placing the laptop on your lap for a long time, as the latter can also cause local low-temperature burns.

In fact, the human skin's tolerance threshold for heat is relatively low. Specifically, if the temperature exceeds 44°C, skin tissue degeneration, damage and inflammation may occur.

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There are two key factors closely related to thermal damage to the skin: the duration of contact with the heat source and the temperature of the heat source. For example, skin tissue can be burned if it is exposed to temperatures below 70°C for 1 second, and it can only be burned if it is continuously exposed to temperatures below 47°C for 45 minutes. In addition, as the temperature continues to rise, the skin's sensitivity to pain will gradually decrease, which may cause the skin tissue to be exposed to heat for an unexpectedly long time, resulting in burns.

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How to avoid low temperature burns?

In order to avoid the above-mentioned chronic heat damage, Dr. Shu Chang suggested that if conditions permit, the room temperature should be kept appropriate and the use of heating equipment should be reduced, such as keeping the indoor temperature above 20°C.

If the above room temperature conditions are not met and it is necessary to use heating equipment, you need to pay attention to the temperature of the equipment. Any heating equipment should not feel hot when touched. In other words, the surface temperature of the object should be as low as possible below 50℃, because people will feel hot above 50℃.

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In addition, heating equipment should be used through clothing or cloth as much as possible, and the single use time is recommended not to exceed 1 hour. Especially for the elderly, diabetics, and people with neurological diseases such as peripheral neuropathy, cerebrovascular disease, paraplegia and spinal cord disease, as they are relatively insensitive to high temperatures, they must try to avoid using heating equipment when sitting for a long time or sleeping.

Expert interviewed: Shu Chang (Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences)

Written by: Reporter Li Jing