A burn injury is a bodily injury.  A burn injury can be caused by many different sources.  Some of these include friction, electricity, and heat. A burn injury can vary greatly regarding the type of tissue that is affected by the burn injury, how severe the burn injury is, and the medical complications that result from a burn injury. Burn injuries can cause damage other than to the skin itself.  A burn injury can affect the burn victim’s muscles,  blood vessels, and bones as well.  A burn injury causes the victim great pain due to damage to the nerve endings.

A burn injury can be fatal.  There is a wide variety of major and potentially fatal complications the victim can experience form a burn injury including electrolyte imbalance, infection of the skin and muscles, shock, and respiratory injury.  A burn injury can also cause distress emotionally and psychologically due to scarring and physical deformity.

Burn Injury Degree Classifications
A burn injury is most commonly classified as a first degree burn, second degree burn, third degree burn, and fourth degree burn injuries.  Fourth degree burns are most commonly fatal to the burn victim.  Following is a brief description of each class of burn injury.

•    First-degree burn injury - Causes redness of the skin, also known as erythema.  A first degree burn injury also causes minor pain and a white plaque discharge at the site of the burn injury.  A first degree burn injury only involves the outer skin layer.


•    Second-degree burn injury - Usually more serious than a first degree burn injury.  The second degree burn causes redness as well, including blistering on the outer skin.  Second-degree burns affect the outer layer of skin, also known as the papillary dermis, and also may affect deeper within the skin of the victim, also known as the reticular dermis.

•    Third-degree burn injury - Causes most of the outer layer of skin, known as the epidermis, to be lost.  Third-degree burns can also cause damage to additional parts of the body, such as tendons, ligaments, and muscles. The skin can also become charred from a third-degree burn injury. Sometimes large scabs will form because of the burn injury, which has separated from the unaffected part of the body.  These scabs are known as eschars. Third-degree burn injuries cause massive scarring, and could be fatal if the area that is affected is large enough. The risk of infection also increases with this type of burn injury.

•    Fourth-degree burns are the most serious type of burn injury, and it affects deeply into the patient’s bone tissue.  Compartment syndrome may result from a fourth degree burn injury, which is a painful condition that occurs when pressure within the muscles builds to an extreme level. Fourth-degree burn injuries can be fatal to the patient

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