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Rice cooker steam hand burn in the pediatric patient
1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Kangdong, Seoul, Korea. rohts@www.hallym.or.kr
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Household electric rice cookers cause unique pediatric steam burns to infant hands. Many require skin grafting, and split-thickness grafts often lead to contractures, necessitating further surgery.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric surgery
- Burn management
- Dermatology
Background:
- Household electric rice cookers are a notable cause of steam burns in infants, particularly in Eastern regions.
- These injuries frequently affect the volar aspects of the index and middle fingers, leading to cosmetic and functional deformities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To retrospectively analyze the clinical course and treatment outcomes of pediatric hand steam burns caused by electric rice cookers.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of different treatment modalities and identify factors contributing to postburn contractures.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of medical records for 79 pediatric patients with acute hand steam burns and 38 patients with postburn contractures.
- Analysis of treatment approaches including conservative management, split-thickness skin grafting, and full-thickness skin grafting.
Main Results:
- 61.7% of acute burns required skin grafting, with volar finger surfaces being most affected.
- 50% of split-thickness skin grafts resulted in late contractures requiring revision surgery.
- For postburn deformities, initial treatments included split-thickness grafting (60.5%), full-thickness grafting (7.9%), and spontaneous healing (31.6%).
Conclusions:
- Electric rice cooker steam burns represent a significant cause of pediatric hand injuries.
- Split-thickness skin grafting for these burns has a high rate of late contracture formation.
- Increased awareness and public education are crucial for preventing these preventable injuries.
Abstract:
Burn injuries often lead to significant cosmetic and functional deformity. In the Orient, household electric rice cookers have caused a significant number of steam burns to infant hands. The clinical course and treatment outcome of these burns have been studied retrospectively in a review of the medical records of 79 pediatric patients treated for acute hand steam burns and of 38 other patients who underwent correction for postburn contracture. Electric rice cookers caused all of the acute pediatric steam burns treated at our institute. Of the 81 hands treated between 1995 and 1998, 38.3 percent healed with conservative treatment and 61.7 percent required skin grafting. The volar aspects of the index and middle fingers were those most frequently involved. Eighteen of 36 hands (50 percent) grafted with split-thickness skin developed late contractures requiring additional procedures. Among the 38 patients who underwent correction for postburn deformity, initial treatment was split-thickness grafting for 60.5 percent, full-thickness skin grafting for 7.9 percent, and spontaneous healing for 31.6 percent. Awareness among medical personnel and continued public education should be promoted to help prevent this unique type of pediatric steam burn from occurring.