Burn injury resulting in mutilation in childhood

We present 3 cases of boys aged 5, 11 and 12 years who sustained very deep burn injury of their extremities. Their future lives were extremely limited. All the 3 boys had a strong emotional reaction to the injury. Two of them sustained amputation of upper extremities as a result from electrical injury, the youngest boy survived without the feet and with mutilated fingers on his hands. To encourage their survival and sense of life we admitted their mothers. Our aim was not only to secure psychological support to the patients but also to prepare the family to accept the sequelae of the injury. This accompaniment in the ward was very useful for both. The mothers were able to watch the progress in the treatment. In this way they were involved in the future care and they coped with the problems from a realistic point of view. The mothers helped the boys with physiotherapy under supervision. All the families were well prepared for discharge of their boys from the hospital without any fear of the following care. The significance of the family member influence upon the patient's resocialization we saw in early acceptance of the child to the society.