Burns in epileptics: experience from enugu, Nigeria

We present burn injuries sustained by epileptics and managed in our burns centre over a period of 10 years. There were a total of 18 patients who sustained burns as a result of epileptic attacks during the study period. This constituted 3.7% of the 485 burn patients seen during the period. There were 10 males and 8 females. Sixteen of them (88.9%) were known epileptics, while two had their first seizures when they sustained the burn injuries. Only seven of the patients (38.9%) had attempted any form of treatment for epilepsy prior to the burn injuries - four of these were on native herbal medications while three had seen orthodox medical practitioners but did not comply with their medications. Sixteen of the patients (88.9%) had flame burns and two (11.1%) had scald injuries. The burn surface areas ranged between 5 and 80%, with a mean of 21.0%. Most of the injuries were full thickness, necessitating wound cover. One patient had amputation of the right hand digits, while another had an above-elbow amputation. We submit that sociocultural beliefs about epileptics and epilepsy constitute a significant problem in this group of patients in our environment. Education of the people will reduce burn injuries in such patients.