Salamanders Young Burn Survivors > Facts and Figures

Every year, one person out of every 100 is injured by a burn.
In the United States alone, about 2,400,000 burn injuries (almost half of which are to children) are reported each year. About 650,000 of these injuries are treated by doctors. Up to 90,000 patients are sent to hospital, of whom 20,000 have major burns involving at least a quarter of their bodies. Between 8,000 and 12,000 patients with burns die, and approximately 1,000,000 will sustain substantial or permanent disabilities resulting from their burn injury.

Three out of every four severe burns and scalds accidents happen to preschool children. A young child's skin is thinner and more sensitive to heat than an adult's skin, so it burns more quickly. Hot liquids cause 70 per cent of all thermal injuries to children. The most common cause of scalds is hot drinks. A freshly-made cup of tea or coffee can cause a second or third degree burn in less than 5 seconds, and hot drinks which have cooled for 5 to 10 minutes are still hot enough to cause a second or third degree burn in 10 to 15 seconds. Every year in the UK alone, over 6,500 children under five visit hospital accident and emergency departments as a result of scalds from kettles and hot drinks. Young children are also particularly at risk from hot bath water. Around 450 children under five are admitted to UK hospitals each year with severe scalds caused by bath water, and a further 2,000 suffer less severe scald injuries. There are over 20 deaths a year as the result of scald injuries from hot baths.

Burns and fires are the biggest cause of accidental death in the home for children up to age 14, and the third leading cause of accidental death for adults. Worldwide, more than 100,000 children die from fire and burns each year.

Three-quarters of all burn accidents could be prevented! Ignorance and carelessness kill or severely injure millions of people each year. Please, be aware of the dangers. Read the 'Be Aware! Be Safe!' pages on this site. Print out a copy of our burn safety and fire safety tips. Think before you act. The life you save may even be your own!

Burns are very expensive injuries to treat.
A burn survivor's first stay in hospital usually lasts about two weeks, but it may last several months. This is often followed by months or years of further treatment. During all this time, burn survivors need the services of many different medical specialists.
All this costs a lot of money. For example, a burn covering 30% of the body can cost more than $200,000(US) just for the first treatment in hospital. The lifetime cost of severe burns can run well into seven figures.

Burn injuries are both extremely painful and slow to heal.
Many doctors think serious burns are the most painful kind of injury. As well as the pain of the burn injury, survivors have to suffer skin grafts and other operations. Young burn survivors suffer the most, because skin grafts do not grow with them and must be continually replaced during their growing years.

Burn injuries cause enormous changes in a person's life, and tremendous emotional pain.
Previous physical skills can become challenges. Long stays in hospital can set back schooling and careers. Those who try to return to school, or work, and other normal activities often find there is a big change in the way others act toward them. The stares, questions and well-meant over-protection and sympathy can overwhelm a burn survivor.
Doubts are raised about identity and self-worth. Dr George Holgate, himself a burn victim, said, "Two million people were burned last year.... Many carry deep scars. Where are these people? Hiding.... Stop and think: You have a pimple or a hickey, you don't want to go to work. Magnify that how many times over and that's what it's like to have been burned."

During the first few weeks this is what the burn survivor's world is like:

A time of crisis when the body needs all its reserves to cope with the traumatic shock, unyielding pain, numerous surgeries, daily dressing changes, infection, and toxicity from burn breakdown products.

A time of anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks, nightmares, and a shapeless frightening mindscape with feelings of:
Helplessness - A bad dream, A nightmare in which one is paralysed, unable to act;
Timelessness - A minute can feel like forever, and then an hour can feel like a minute or a week or forever;
Loss of identity - "Something is happening to me. Who am I?"
Hyperawareness - A spooky sense that one knows too much, that one can see right through people.

Four walls and a hospital bed. . . . and THE BURN is everywhere, colouring everything and everybody!

The face of a burn: If you think "a burn" looks a bit like a bad sunburn, you couldn't be more wrong!

WARNING If you are easily frightened, or very young, this photo may be too scary for you!

but if you really want to know, click here to see what a burn truly looks like.

To find out about burn safety and first aid, check out our "BE AWARE! BE SAFE!" pages.

To find out more about burns, click on one of these small books: