Question

A patient with burns to the skin complains of numbness and difficulty staying warm. Based on this information, diagnose which layers of skin were damaged and the degree of the burns. Explain your diagnoses.

Answer 1

layers of the skin affected by the burn in this question are the epidermis and dermis. When a burn occurs to soft-tissue, the fragile, yet strong nerve endings enter in a "protective and chaotic" mode, trying to restore a homeostatic environment. There is also a massive attempt from the body to thermoregulate itself. The heat from the burn is causing the body to release excessive heat to prevent itself from over-heating. Until the brain is signaled to slow this process, heat will rapidly exit the body, thus the difficulty keeping warm

Answer 2

In the given case, all three layers of the skin got burned. The person complains of difficulty in staying warm and numbness that could be the reason for both a loss of insulation from the skin and total destruction to the skin's nerve receptors.

The three layers of the skin from the superior to the inferior order are the epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis. In case, if only the epidermis was burnt then the victim would not have complained of numbness, as there is the presence of nerve receptors in the dermis and hypodermis layers, which signifies that the dermis and the hypodermis layers got damaged as well.

The hypodermis also helps in insulating, thus, due to the burning of the layer, the victim would have finding difficulty in remaining warm.