Word: skin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Another major concern is the loss of fluid. When deep burns cover a large area of the body and the skin no longer provides an effective barrier against infection, the immune system goes into overdrive to ward off invading germs. It floods the injured areas with blood and plasma carrying immune cells, which cause extensive inflammation and swelling. In some cases the swelling is severe enough to interfere with breathing, and the patient must be put on a ventilator...
...Using an instrument resembling a vegetable peeler, Himel begins peeling back the hardened, white, dead skin on the woman's burned chest. "I know I've reached healthy skin if there's bleeding," he says. After a few thin layers have been removed, blood begins to ooze. While Polynice mops it up, Himel continues to peel away at dead skin until he reaches the fat and muscle layer underneath...
...skin has been so damaged by the acid that it's liquefied," says Himel. It begins to stick to the razor-sharp peeler, which he wipes repeatedly to keep it clean...
...Having removed all the dead skin from the chest and neck, Himel holds the patient's left thigh taut while the surgical assistant uses an electric-powered device to peel away two foot-long strips of the epidermis and the upper part of the dermis from the woman's left...
...surgical assistant uses a razor to make tiny pinpricks along the entire length of each skin strip, Himel explains, "Pinpricks will allow the fluids and blood to seep out and any bacterial growth to leave the wound...