Dye for Burns

At first glance the young British flight lieutenant looked mischievous, boyish; at second glance as if he wore a Mephistophelean mask. And a mask it was--a mask of his own skin. He was a ghastly triumph of plastic surgery. He told Manhattan reporters how his Spitfire had been shot down 28,000 feet over the English Channel. As the plane burst into flames, he pulled off his oxygen mask, bailed out. When picked up, he was terribly burned on his face and hands.

This press story of last week might have been the text for a lecture on burns which Harvard's Dr. Robert Henry Aldrich gave at the A.M.A. Convention.

The British aviator was given the classic burn treatment: first a scrubbing under anesthesia, then applications of tannic acid (found in tea, bark, coffee, etc.). One day a noted surgeon visited him, ordered the tannic-acid treatment stopped at once. But it was too late. "This is what tannic acid does," said the lieutenant last week, holding up his glazed hands, permanently puckered into half-closed fists.

Although it has been used for burns for hundreds of years, tannic acid may do more harm than good. For: 1) it forms a thick, hard crust, under which germs flourish; 2) it kills delicate new skin cells. The British are now turning away from tannic acid, to other methods--among them, the triple dye treatment of Dr. Aldrich.

But in the U.S., where 10,000 people die of burns every year, and countless others are crippled for life, young Dr. Aldrich is still a prophet without honor. At the Cleveland meeting last week, he urged his colleagues to try his purple and green dyes. In Boston City Hospital, he reported, he has reduced the mortality rate from serious burns from 34% to 8%.

Regardless of how serious they are, Dr. Aldrich believes "there is absolutely no first-aid treatment for large burns." During the first 72 hours, patients are more liable to die from shock than from burn. According to Dr. Aldrich, they should not be smeared with oils, but should be kept warm, given large amounts of fluids, and sedatives to relieve pain.

When a patient recovers from shock, Dr. Aldrich treats him for the next hazard --death from streptococcic infection. Loose bits of skin are trimmed away, but he is not scrubbed. A surgeon sprays a mixed solution of three aniline dyes--crystal violet, brilliant green, and brownish neutral acriflavine directly on to his burned skin. As soon as the dye covers his exposed nerve ends, all pain stops.

As fast as one coat of dye dries, another is applied, until the patient looks as though he were covered with a light, flexible coat of purple leather. Then he is kept at a temperature of around 85DEG F. The dye protects the raw flesh, and kills all bacteria.

If some bacteria do start growing, they are easily seen, for the infected spot becomes moist and soft. It is cut away, and a new coat of dye is sprayed on. The treatment is far more painstaking than the tannic-acid method. But aniline-dyed patients seldom die of infections, even if two-thirds of their skin is burned away.

Unless their feet are burned, Dr. Aldrich shoos his patients out of bed in a few days. Contrary to custom, he gives them enormous amounts of food, for "they have a big job to do"--growing skin.

In a few weeks, the little islands of skin at the base of the hair follicles begin to expand, and new skin spreads over the body like thin pink satin, seldom puckering, as does skin irritated by tannic acid. Any grafting that is necessary is done at this time. Results are far handsomer than with the old treatment.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.