Q: I read in your column about a woman who burned her hand on a curling iron.  She used cold soy sauce to relieve the pain.

Many years ago, I absent-mindedly poured boiling water from the teakettle over my hand instead of in the mug.  The pain was incredible.

I grabbed a large pot and filled it with ice  and water.  I put my hand in the icy water to relieve the pain.  When the hand got numb, I took it out of the water, and when it started to hurt again I submerge my hand again.  I continued this for a couple of hours until the pain was gone.  My hand never blistered or showed signs of a burn.

A: An article in JAMA (Aug. 27, 1960) recommended ice water as a first aid for burns.  The physician reported: “In each of 150 cases, pain was immediately relieved and the extent of the redness and blistering visibly reduced.  Local cooling was continued for several hours, until pain no longer returned when the part was taken out of the bath…  This form of treatment has advantages in emergency care for lesser burns, since it is easily available, inexpensive, humane, and promptly effective.”

More recent first-aid advice suggests cool water without ice.  An animal study showed that ice-water cooling “is associated with an increase in tissue damage” (Burns, November 2007).

• article by Joe and Teresa Graedon
• copyright The Seattle Times