the affected skin in a clean dressing, and immediately seeking care at a hospital or qualified burn center.
Fortunately, “most patients usually can and do recover,” said Dr. Nicholas Vasquez, a spokesman for the Arizona chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. “But it depends on the size of the burn and the severity. The bigger and the more severe, the longer the recovery.”
The best strategy is prevention, said Vasquez, an emergency physician with Chandler Regional Medical Center in Arizona. He was not involved in the study.
“Pavement burns are really part of a larger problem, which is that people are poorly adapted to deal with heat,” he noted. “All of our adaptive measures are related to cold: Putting on clothes, finding shelter, because, in terms of evolution, cold has been our biggest threat. But heat-related emergencies are serious business.”
So, be practical. “When it’s hot out, stay aggressively
