It BURRRNNS!

[Bamboozler]

Just want to pass a tip from personal experience that might be of aid to fellow pyros. We've all been burnt at some point in our lives, and likely will be burnt again in the future, odds increase dramatically practicing this hobby. Just two weeks ago I got hot melt stuck to my finger.. the horror of that liquid stuck to you in a good quantity, you know you're in for it.. que the insta blister.. well I have a pain reducing remedy to give a shot...

 

 

Lavender oil.

 

 

In my experience lavender oil applied to a new finger burn knocks down the perceived pain in half within around 5 minutes time.

 

I first came across the tip 10+ years ago from my mother. I was TIG welding an exhaust at my parents house and picked up a hot section of pipe that gave an instant blister. While running my finger under the faucet my mother, who is into essential oils, said, " let me put this lavender oil on your burn". I complied, what could it hurt. Within 5 minutes the pain from the burn that was registering a 7-8 out of 10 on the pain scale was back ground noise and I was back at the project handling material with the stricken hand/finger without much remembrance of the incident. I've been sold ever since.

 

I've used aloe vera in the past, and while it might aid in burn recovery, it doesn't seem to deaden the pain nearly as much (if at all IMO) as what lavender oil does.

 

Give it a try, ensure you have a quality oil. Pass on any other annoying burn pain remedies if you have em, open to trying new tricks.

[Piccaso]

Thanks, I will try it soon as burns are part of my day job restoring cars and building custom cars. I am always getting welding slag somewhere I do not want it.

[SharkWhisperer]

Lavender oil is mumbo-jumbo. Or it'd be used in burn units worldwide. It hasn't been overlooked by modern medicine, just discounted as hocus-pocus because it is. Just like tea tree oil, which will cure everything from cancer to bad debt to bad breath. And ear infections in my dog (not). Suckers paying hucksters. Timeless.

 

BTW, the "essential" in essential oils refers simply to their smell, their "essence", and has never been connected, or originated, because they were truly essential/important for anything. But all the shysters selling you that crap will tell you that "essential" means "critical" or important; a blatant lie. "A fool and his money are..."... In the US alone, morons are already volunteering over 6B/year of their hard-earned money to "alternative medicine" and other shyster "treatments". I'm tempted to share a slice of that naivety.

 

What do you call "alternative medicine that works"? Uhhh....."medicine".

 

FFS, develop some critical thinking skills.

Edited March 18, 2021 by SharkWhisperer

[Bamboozler]

SharkWhisperer, can't help but see you as the meme below from that reply...

 

Put the stuff on a burn if you want, see if it helps, or not, no issues. It's very observable reduction in burn pain to me, if it's snake oil, ignorance is bliss, and I'll gladly be ignorant if it does what I observed every time I've tried it.

 

I can totally see SharkWhisperer, with a burn on his finger and bottle of lavender oil on the table in front of him.. shaking his head and saying, "no, no, no, not going to do it.. mumbo-jumbo... it's m u m b o - j u m b o..not going to do it".

 

 

http://pcbwerks.com/pics/ack2.jpg

[SharkWhisperer]

SharkWhisperer, can't help but see you as the meme below from that reply...

 

Put the stuff on a burn if you want, see if it helps, or not, no issues. It's very observable reduction in burn pain to me, if it's snake oil, ignorance is bliss, and I'll gladly be ignorant if it does what I observed every time I've tried it.

 

I can totally see SharkWhisperer, with a burn on his finger and bottle of lavender oil on the table in front of him.. shaking his head and saying, "no, no, no, not going to do it.. mumbo-jumbo... it's m u m b o - j u m b o..not going to do it".

 

 

http://pcbwerks.com/pics/ack2.jpg

Nope, Amigo, just a realist. Having been actively engaged in actual medicine for all of my adult live, I remain entertained (and enthused) by the powers of the placebo effect. Which are demonstrably "real", no question. And the reason that the huckster Gwyneth Paltrow makes millions annually with her huckster Goop lineup.

 

I also have seen plenty of episodes of folk/traditional "medicine" backfire spectacularly. Like the old Mexican IL-2 clinics for cancer that killed a lot of people. Or the (many) home abortion solutions that kill many, many women every year across the globe. The list, unfortunately, is endless and has many examples that are much more attention-getting than those two examples.

 

If you sought relief from your burn pain with lavender oil, and you think it worked, well good on you. Results are all that matter.

 

That said, some of the members of this forum have experienced much more severe thermal damage from pyro accidents, and I doubt, even in hindsight, they think "damn, I should have tried some lavender/tea tree/CBD oil) before hotfooting it to the closest Burn Center. It's called science.

Edited March 19, 2021 by SharkWhisperer

[Bamboozler]

Sorry my man, too bad you need a clinical paper to put any faith into and to even consider that there could be a real benefit in the application of lavender oil for burn pain reduction; anecdotal evidence be damned. Not going to convince you otherwise.

 

 

To be clear, my suggested application is intended for the minor finger burn oopsies that are common, not a serious burn that requires a visit to a medical facility. Telling ya, give it a go if ever in the position with a minor burn, interesting to hear your observation (not thinking you will though).

 

 

 

Here's some science for ya, clinical study plugging lavender oil for wound healing and references to others regarding wound pain reduction: LINK Published on NIH.gov.

 

A previous randomized control trial conducted on 120 women demonstrated that treatment with lavender oil significantly reduced pain after episiotomy and redness of incision sites as compared to control [18]. More recently, another randomized clinical trial for episiotomy demonstrated the similar results; significant reduction of REEDA (redness, edema, ecchymosis, discharge and approximation) score and visual analogue scale score for pain, as compared to control [19]. Both clinical trials suggest beneficial effect of lavender oil on wound healing. Also, it was reported that topical treatment with lavender oil on aphthous ulceration showed a significant ulcer size reduction as compared to control in both an animal experiment and a clinical study [20]. Moreover, there is a report evaluating the mechanism of effect of lavender oil on cutaneous wound healing in an animal experiment [21].

 

Trial Conclusion (abbreviated):

The beneficial effect of lavender oil on wound healing may raise the possibility of new approaches as complementary treatment besides conventional therapy.

[SharkWhisperer]

 

Sorry my man, too bad you need a clinical paper to put any faith into and to even consider that there could be a real benefit in the application of lavender oil for burn pain reduction; anecdotal evidence be damned. Not going to convince you otherwise.

 

 

To be clear, my suggested application is intended for the minor finger burn oopsies that are common, not a serious burn that requires a visit to a medical facility. Telling ya, give it a go if ever in the position with a minor burn, interesting to hear your observation (not thinking you will though).

 

 

 

Here's some science for ya, clinical study plugging lavender oil for wound healing and references to others regarding wound pain reduction: LINK Published on NIH.gov.

 

A previous randomized control trial conducted on 120 women demonstrated that treatment with lavender oil significantly reduced pain after episiotomy and redness of incision sites as compared to control [18]. More recently, another randomized clinical trial for episiotomy demonstrated the similar results; significant reduction of REEDA (redness, edema, ecchymosis, discharge and approximation) score and visual analogue scale score for pain, as compared to control [19]. Both clinical trials suggest beneficial effect of lavender oil on wound healing. Also, it was reported that topical treatment with lavender oil on aphthous ulceration showed a significant ulcer size reduction as compared to control in both an animal experiment and a clinical study [20]. Moreover, there is a report evaluating the mechanism of effect of lavender oil on cutaneous wound healing in an animal experiment [21].

 

Trial Conclusion (abbreviated):

The beneficial effect of lavender oil on wound healing may raise the possibility of new approaches as complementary treatment besides conventional therapy.

 

Wasn't ripping on you. And thanks for the references; Ref #20 was published in a pay-to-play predatory (i.e., send the dollars) journal, rendering it meaningless. The others deserve a read, though. And the trial conclusion is the typical stock, cautious, noncomittal ("...may...possibility...") but positive statement that just about every medical paper concludes with.

 

Again, neither trying to insult your intelligence nor downgrade your experiences. I'm currently acting as a Section Editor for a medical journal that most are familiar with, and have written and reviewed clinical trial pivotal study publications for decades. Kinda not a newbie with respect to trials data analysis and interpretation.

 

And I received a grant from the NCCIH (Natl Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health shortly after it was formed in the early 2000s) and have published on various topics related to botanical-derived chems, some, like EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate, an antioxidant polyphenol from green tea) that you may have heard about (it's become quite popular, more than it deserves, however). The main problem is that people are highly susceptible to positive confirmation bias, which means they selectively and unconsciously filter information they encounter so that it agrees with preconceived expectations.

 

Here's my takehome message in a nutshell: If it doesn't make something worse, or somebody thinks it helps, even if it doesn't that's a personal decision with their health and their bank account. On the flipside, and it occurs waaaay waaaay too often (think hucksters Paltrow and "Dr" Oz), oftentimes people forgo proven treatments (which can be expensive or full of side effects) at the expense of undertaking a poorly-substantiated (and often expensive) "alternative" approach to treating themselves. Sometimes this leaves them and their families destitute with zero health benefits or even worse off than before healthwise.

 

And that is when it becomes a public health issue that we all end up paying for, one way or another.

 

If it works, you can afford it without negatively impacting family financial resources, and it doesn't hurt your or cause you to avoid other established treatments with established benefits (and risks), then have at it. Your life.

 

But now we're straying off-topic from the original specific focus, so let's get the train back on the rails, k?

 

Peace, SW

[Bamboozler]

My opinion, but I believe there was contradiction in the replies listed below.

 

FFS, develop some critical thinking skills.

 

 

Wasn't ripping on you.

 

Again, neither trying to insult your intelligence

 

 

Understood that ref #20 out of the 54 is dubious, likely a few more than one of the 54 listed references could be too.

 

Agreed, we'll get this back on the rails, points made on both ends.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Bamboozler

[SeaMonkey]

Allopathic Medicine is Big Business that requires masses of Unhealthy People.

 

Healthy People who advocate use of inexpensive "Natural" remedies therefore are liable to become "targets."

 

Covid Mania being a prime example.

 

The "New Normal" is designed to be "the End" of all that was formerly "Normal."

 

Critical Thinkers have not been fooled.

[Uarbor]

You won't find lavender oil in any sort of clinical situation because pharmaceutical companies cannot patent it and make a fortune and it is as simple as that. I prefer vinegar on minor burns Edited June 29, 2021 by Uarbor

[Saintsslav]

Cool