[Nfbmo] 'Egg White for Burns post dangerously false.

[DanFlasar at aol.com]

All, 
    Like all internet  stories, this post sounded interesting - but further 
information -  that is - a link to a reliable source of information is 
necessary.  Since  this story is entirely undocumented - we have no way of 
knowing whether this is  true or not.  Before sending posts regarding health 
issues that are making  the rounds to ANYONE please take the time to do a web 
search on the  topic.   
 
     Generally, never trust any  post regarding serious health issues 
without references.  In this case,  the post claimed that egg whites contain 
collagen - which is completely  untrue. Egg white - or albumen - contains 2 
amino acids that are necessary for  the creation of collagen.  But this takes 
place via the digestive  process. Adding egg whites to a wound can provide a 
pathway for salmonella, a  very serious disease that has the potential to 
cause death - especially for  someone undergoing the trauma of serious burns.
       
 
      Acting on that knowledge, I  googled "Eggs for burns" and the very 
first hit was from Snopes.com - a  reliable evaluator of internet spread 
postings.   Here's the link to  the page regarding this specific post (I've 
included the text of the article  below the link) - references supporting the 
articles claims are at the  end:
 
 
http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/eggwhite.asp
 
       Take the time to read the  article - it's a good source of what you 
should *really* do before the medics  arrive.  They take great care to find 
the origins of the post's claims  about the magical healing properties of 
egg white.   The only  references they could find recommending egg whites as a 
treatment for  burns were from 1899 and 1900 (see below).
 
 
       Text from the article,  below.  
 
Claim: Treat burns with egg whites.
 
 
             FALSE  - red  alert

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, July 2011] 
 
(Note: here's the same post that was sent out this  evening.

A young man sprinkling his lawn and bushes with pesticides wanted to  
check the  contents of the barrel to see how much pesticide remained  
in it. He  raised the cover and lit his lighter; the vapors inflamed  
and  engulfed him. He jumped from his truck, screaming. His neighbor  
came out  of her house with a dozen eggs, yelling: "bring me some  
eggs!"  She broke them, separating the whites from the yolks. The  
neighbor  woman helped her to apply the whites on the young man's  
face.  When the ambulance arrived and when the EMTs saw the young  
man, they  asked who had done this. Everyone pointed to the lady in  
charge.  They congratulated her and said: "You have saved his face."  
By the  end of the summer, the young man brought the lady a bouquet  
of roses  to thank her. His face was like a baby's skin. 
 
              Healing Miracle for burns: 
 
              Keep in mind this treatment of burns which is included in 
teaching  
beginner  fireman this method. First aid consists to spraying cold  
water on  the affected area until the heat is reduced and stops  
burning  the layers of skin. Then, spread egg whites on the affected  
area. 
 
(Note:   Firemen do not, as a rule,  bring eggs with them.  Nor do EMTs.)
 
              
 
             [Collected via e-mail, April 2011] 
 

Treating burns. 
 
              Egg white 
 
              One hopes never to be needing it, but just in case:... 
 
             A  simple but effective way to treat burns with the help of 
egg  
white. 
 
              This method is used in the training of firemen. 
 
              When sustaining a burn, regardless the degree, the first aid 
is  
always  placing the injured part under running cold water till the  
heat  subsides. 
 
              And next spread the egg white over the injury. 
 
              Someone burned a large part of her hand with boiling water. 
Despite  
the pain  she held her hand under running water, then took two eggs,  
parted  the yolk from the egg white and slightly beat the egg white  
and put  her hand in it. Her hand was so badly burned that the egg  
white  dried and formed a white film. Later she heard that the egg is  
a natural  collagen. 
 
              And during the next hour layer upon layer, she administered a 
white  
layer on  her hand. That afternoon she didn't feel any more pain and  
the next  day there hardly was a red mark to see. She thought she  
would  have an awful scar but to her astonishment after ten days  
there was  no sign of the burn, the skin had it's normal color again! 
 
              The burned area had been totally regenerated thanks to the  
collagen,  in reality a placenta full of vitamins. 
 
(Note:   A 'placenta full  of vitamins?  Whoever wrote this original post 
has no knowledge of medicine  at all! )
   (continuing  article)
 
              This advice can be useful for everyone. 
 
              
 
             Origins:   Akin to another Internet-spread rumor regarding the 
 
treatment  of burns (which involved placing the injured extremity  
into a  bag of flour), this seemingly helpful heads up also began  
making  the online rounds in March 2011. In a nutshell, don't do it,  
because  the danger of introducing salmonella into an open wound  
should  not be toyed with. 
 
              The Internet-spread egg white remedy is somewhat more 
reliable in  
its  approach to treating minor burns at home in that it outright  
states  one should first cool the injured area completely with cold  
water  before applying anything to the wound, yet even in regard to  
that  exhortation, it's a bit off the mark:  
When  sustaining a burn, regardless the degree, [emphasis ours] the  
first aid  is always placing the injured part under running cold  
water  till the heat subsides.  
In  the case of very severe burns, do not run cold water over the  
wound.  Says the Mayo Clinic of the treatment of third degree burns:  
"Don't  immerse large severe burns in cold water. Doing so could  
cause a  drop in body temperature (hypothermia) and deterioration of  
blood  pressure and circulation (shock)." 
 
              First degree burns (which are the least severe of the three 
classes  
of this  type of injury) are the only sort one should be trying to  
treat at  home without summoning additional medical assistance.  
Effective  first aid begins with stopping the burning process;  
otherwise, the affected flesh continues to cook, further damaging  
the  injured area. For this reason, the recommended action is to  
immediately immerse the burned area in cool water or under gently  
running  cool water for a minimum of five minutes. Doing so halts the  
burning  process, numbs the pain, and prevents or reduces swelling.  
If the  injury cannot be immersed or positioned under a faucet, cool  
water is  to be poured over it for the same amount of time. Never use  
ice on  burns. 
 
              Only after the wound has been effectively cooled should the 
injured  
area be  dried off, then dressed with a clean bandage. (Bandaging can  
be  omitted when the injury is small and there is no break in the  
skin.)  Neither butter nor oil 
 
              should ever be applied to any burn, although once the wound 
has  
been  properly cooled and dried, antibiotic ointments or aloe vera  
gel could  be applied before dressing the area. 
 
Note:   Aloe plants are cheap to buy,  are practically impossible to kill 
and are great to use for minor burns (like  touching a hot pan) - just break 
off a leaf and let the juice spread over the  affected area  (unless the 
skin is broken).   Or just buy a  bottle of aloe vera gel - easily found at 
drug stores and  supermarkets)
 
 
              While the treatment of second degree burns also begins with 
cooling  
injured  areas with cold water until wound temperature has been  
brought  down, its second step is hand-off to a medical professional.  
For  anything more than a minor burn, get the injured person swiftly  
to a  doctor as opposed to attempt to continue treatment on one's  
own. As  for third degree burns, keep the victim breathing and summon  
medical  help. In the interim before help's arrival, drape damp  
cloths  over the wounded areas, but do not immerse any of the  
victim's  body parts in cold water, and do not attempt to cut  
clothing  from the victim. 
 
              Regarding the rest of the e-mail, fire fighters are not 
instructed  
as part  of their training to treat burns with egg white. Instead,  
they  learn at-the-scene first aid procedures, which mostly amount to  
keeping  airways open, reducing the temperature of burned areas, then  
handing  off burn victims to medical professionals. 
 
              However, that firefighters aren't being taught to slather 
burn  
victims  with albumen doesn't mean that at one time providing exactly  
that  treatment wasn't a somewhat recommended practice, as we've  
found  turn-of-the-century medical journals that advocated the use of  
egg white  on minor burns. Now, granted, most of those references  
promoted  such use as a way of shielding injured areas from  
contamination (that is, using egg white to create a protective  
barrier  between wound and air), but there was also suggestion that  
the  application of this substance would take the pain out of the  
injury.  (Mind you, those selfsame journals also offered up the  
information that a number of other wet, dense dressings, such as  
olive oil  or a mixture of baking soda and water, would act just as  
effectively as a wound protectant and calmative for minor burns.) 
 
              This doctor, however, in an 1899 article presented the use of 
egg  
whites on  burns, not as a protective dressing, but as a remedy for  
that  particular sort of injury. (This is the only reference of its  
kind that  we've so far happened upon; all others made no claim about  
egg  white's curing anything): (Fropm 1899 reference:

"The  best domestic remedy for burns and scalds, always obtainable in  
emergencies, is the application of the white of an egg beaten to a  
foam and  mixt with a tablespoonful of lard. If it is at hand, add  
five  drops of carbolic acid to this. This is the best thing possible  
for  immediate use. "


However, it needs be pointed out that this same doctor immediately  
followed  his "best domestic remedy" advice with this item about "the  
best  thing possible for general treatment": 

"If you want the best thing possible for general treatment, a  
dressing  which will prevent scarring and give immediate relief, use  
one dram  of bismuth subnitrate to an ounce of vaselin, with five  
drops of  carbolic acid. "

As to why slather egg white (or any other household item) onto  
burns  rather than something more medically sound, said another  
physician  in 1900: 

"As  burns and scalds are usually emergency cases, we are not always  
prepared  to adopt the most approved methods of treatment. We are  
compelled  to select what we consider the best agents from such as  
are  within our reach. Fortunately in every house we can generally  
find what  will answer for temporary purposes. Carron oil, olive oil  
with the  white of an egg, bicarbonate of soda in powder or saturated  
solution,  or even flour may be utilized until we have time to get  
what we  need. "


In  other words, egg white wasn't being grabbed for as one of those  
secret  home remedies that outperforms conventional medicine; it was  
merely  what was at hand when the crisis occurred. And its use was to  
be  temporary (with the implication that once the attending physician  
had full  access to his medicines and treatments of choice, it would  
be  quickly replaced with something far better). 
 
             If  egg white is at all effective in treating burns (and we're 
not  
at all  convinced that it is, 100+ year medical references to the  
contrary), it's as an occlusive dressing that would keep  
contamination out of a raw wound, not as a magical curative of  
burned  flesh. Its effect on the healing process wouldn't have  
anything  to do with its collagen content or that it's a "placenta  
full of  vitamins," but rather that it's a thickish liquid that would  
form a  barrier. (In other words, motor oil — which has no collagen  
to it at  all — would work equally as well.) 
 
             As  to what to do with all this confusion, even when the burn 
is  
minor and  the injury is fully cooled before anything else is done to  
it, there  is a downside to coating such an injury with egg white.  
Raw eggs  sometimes contain or have resident on their shells  
salmonella, a deadly bacteria. Introducing salmonella into an open  
wound  would be a dangerous idea. Says a physician friend of ours,  
"Burn-injured, denuded skin is an excellent culture medium, and a  
contaminated egg white applied to his burn could readily cause  
severe  damage or death to the patient." 
 
              Barbara "cold comfort" Mikkelson 
 
             Additional information: 
 
                          Burn Treatment  
(Massachusetts General  Hospital)
Last updated:   22 August 2011  
 

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This material may not be reproduced without permission.  
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                   Sources:
 
                   Henderson, Louise.   Practical Nursing.    New York:  
The  
MacMillan Company, 1919.   (p.  149).
Kennedy, Walter Urban.   "Burns and Scalds."      St. Louis  
Medical Era.   February 1900   Vol. IX No.  6.
"Reorganized."   "Helps for Some of Life's  Ills."     Vision:  
a Magazine for Youth.   1890   Vol.  3.
Indiana Medical Journal.   "Treatment of  Burns."     1906    
Vol. 24 (p.  157).
The Medical World.   "How to Cure Warts, Burns and  Scalds."    
1899   Vol. XVII (p. 32). 


 
young man sprinkling his lawn and bushes with pesticides  wanted to check 
the contents of the barrel to see how much pesticide remained in  it. He 
raised the cover and lit his lighter; the vapors inflamed and engulfed  him. He 
jumped from his truck, screaming. His neighbor came out of her house  with a 
dozen eggs, yelling: "bring me some eggs!" She broke them, separating the  
whites from the yolks. The neighbor woman helped her to apply the whites on 
the  young man's face. When the ambulance arrived and when the EMTs saw the 
young  man, they asked who had done this. Everyone pointed to the lady in 
charge. They  congratulated her and said: "You have saved his face." By the 
end of the summer,  the young man brought the lady a bouquet of roses to thank 
her. His face was  like a baby's skin.