Each year, over two and a half million people suffer burn injuries. More than 35 percent of burn injuries happen to children.
A third-degree burn occurs when an injury occurs to the epidermis, burns through the dermis, and burns the underlying structural tissue, such as muscular, skeletal, nervous and vascular tissue. Third degree burns are also referred to as full thickness burns, which describe the depth of the injury.
Third-degree burns can result from several different kinds of burns.
- thermal burns, or burns caused by heat or flames
- contact burns, burns caused by a hot surface like an iron, light bulb or muffler tail pipe
- electrical burns, burns caused by electrical currents
- chemical burns, burns caused by contact with some kind of noxious or caustic substance.
