Medical treatment for burn patients with eating disorders: a case report

There have been many cases of burn patients who also suffer from psychiatric problems, including eating disorders. We present a case of a 38-year-old female with an eating disorder and depression who became light-headed and fell, spilling boiling water from a kettle on herself at home sustaining partial thickness and full thickness burns over 5% of her total body surface area: left buttock and right thigh and calf. Eating disorders (in the present case, anorexia nervosa) cause emaciation and malnutrition, and consent for hospitalization from the patient and/or family is often difficult. During the medical treatment of burns for these patients, consideration not only of physical symptoms caused by malnutrition but also the psychiatric issues is required. Therefore, multifaceted and complex care must be given to burn patients with eating disorders.