Word: wax
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...major problem in naval warfare. Sailors work within enclosed areas where they are exposed to bomb flashes and hot oil. Of Naval casualties at Pearl Harbor, half were burn cases, whereas at nearby airfields burns accounted for only 2% or 3% of casualties. Dr. Pendleton does not claim the wax treatment is perfect, but he and his Mare Island colleagues think it is a big improvement...
...treatment is a refinement of a method used before World War I but largely neglected since. It consists simply in spraying the burned areas with a melted mixture of paraffin wax, vaseline, cod-liver oil and sulfanilamide (plus traces of camphor, menthol and eucalyptus oil). This wax film is gently washed off the burn with warm water and renewed daily. The burn is not cleaned before spraying, although it may be dusted with sulfa powders; nor is it bandaged afterward. The patient is also given the plasma transfusions and high protein diet common to other forms of burn therapy...
Advantages claimed for the wax treatment...
...Pain is stopped instantly, probably because the wax protects bared nerve tips from cold and air. It thus eliminates the need for morphine (which causes dopiness, constipation and loss of appetite) which must accompany other treatments until a scablike "eschar" forms over the burn...
...Debridement - the time-consuming cleansing and removal of dead tissues and blisters-is eliminated as the necessary first step in burn therapy. Dr. Pendleton believes that sulfa drugs now make debridement unnecessary and the wax can be safely sprayed on top of oil, dirt, charred clothing, etc. He also thinks that debridement may remove live tissues vitally needed to bridge over the destroyed areas. When burns are treated with wax film (which is washed away each day), a slow, gentle debridement takes place without injury to the growing cells...