How do you get internal burns?

Question

A friend of mine recently said that he had received internal burns from trying to light a grill with lighter fluid. He said the flames traveled up the stream and burnt his face and chest. According to him he was in a coma for six days with fifth degree burns and needed money sent for his wife to get back home. The other day I saw him without his shirt and didn't notice any scarring. This is when he informed me that the burns were internal. I'm under the impression that the only way to get internal burns is through an electrical burn and that the worst degree burn one could receive was third. I'm trying to gather information about burns so I can figure out whether or not I've been had. Any help on ths matter would be greatly appriciated.

Answer 1

Your friend is lying.

There are 3 ways to get "internal burns"-

- Inhalation of superheated gasses (i.e. fire, steam, etc)

- Electrical

- Chemical (i.e. bleach, Drano, etc)

What he's describing sounds like a burn caused by the splashing of a flammable liquid. That type of incident would leave an external burn. An internal burn from that type of incident would have required him inhaling superheated gasses and damaging his lungs. In addition external burns severe enough to put a person in a "coma" for six days would have to be fairly extensive. Internal burns sufficient to do the same would have likely proved fatal since they would have caused severe damage to the airways & lungs. He would be in the hospital for a LONG time, as in MONTHS (possibly >1yr).

There are actually SIX degrees of burns, most people just don't know about the ones above third degree because they're relatively rare.

A quick anatomy lesson on the skin as it relates to burns:

From outside to inside the layers are skin>fat>fascia>muscle>bone

They are (examples are only approximate to illustrate the levels)-

- First Degree: mild reddening of the skin (i.e. sunburn, mild hot water, etc)

- Second Degree: blistering of the skin, damage to fatty layers (i.e. severe sunburn, mild chemical, hot water, etc)

- Third Degree: Charring of the superficial layers, but muscle undamaged (i.e. short direct flame, severe chemical, etc)

- Fourth Degree: Destruction of fascia and damage to muscle tissue(i.e. direct flame, phosphorus, steam, etc)

- Fifth Degree: Muscle tissue destroyed, bone exposed (i.e. prolonged  direct flame, severe phosphorous, etc)  

- Sixth Degree: Bone exposed & splintered, limbs may be "vaporised" (i.e. very prolonged direct flame, pyroclastic flow, etc)

If your friend really had "fifth degree" burns to his chest there would literally have been holes where his lungs would have been visible. A fifth degree burn to a limb REQUIRES amputation, and one to the chest is virtually always fatal. A sixth degree burn, even to an extremity, is almost universaly fatal.

For more info see-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn

- David

Answer 2

ur friend is a liar...

that just sounds dumb!