Analysis of 155 patients with chemical injury: a 5-year experience

From July 1986 to June 1991, 155 patients were treated in our department for various chemical burn injuries. The experience over the 5-year period is reviewed. Among these patients, 109 patients were between 20 and 40 years of age and accounted for 70.3 per cent of all chemical burn patients. It is suggested that chemical burns are very common in people of working age. Chemical burn manifestations were unlike those of thermal injury. The scene of injury, type of chemical agent, age of patients, clinical manifestation and management of the burn surface are discussed. Although the patients were given the same physical therapy, early tangential or full thickness excision and immediate autografting yielded better results than conservative treatment and shortened hospital stay.