What Are the Different Types of Thermal Burns?
Thermal burns, or burns caused by heat, come in several degrees of severity. There are several different classification systems used to categorize thermal burns, using the depth of tissue involvement as a landmark for determining how serious a burn is. Burn patients should be aware that staging a burn can involve some invasive investigation on the part of the medical team, and that this can be extremely painful, but it is important to make sure that the burns are treated properly. Some medical professionals use a “degree” system, breaking thermal burns into first, second, and third degree burns, with a rarer fourth degree burn category being seen in some regions. Others categorize thermal burns as superficial, partial thickness, or full thickness burns. Sometimes, partial thickness burns are divided into superficial and deep, creating four possible categories.
