Burn injuries can happen in car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and other incidents. They take only a fraction of a second to occur, yet the negligent acts of others can leave you with permanent reminders of what happened.
If you have suffered a burn injury, the permanent effects may never disappear. They can also span deeper, affecting your mental and emotional well-being. The extent you may experience permanent effects from a burn will depend on the severity of your injuries.
Those with first-degree burns have the best chance of making a full recovery. However, if you have suffered second-degree burns or worse, you will be most likely to have permanent effects.
Scars
Scars are the most common lingering effect that will forever remind you of a burn from a car crash, explosion, or other accident. Whether you have contracture, hypertrophic, or keloid scars from your burn injury, each of these can last a lifetime.
Skin Discoloration
When burned skin heals, it may be permanently discolored. Sometimes, it can fade and become less noticeable in time. For many burn victims, it’s still noticeable even after countless skin grafts and other surgical procedures.
Contraction
In severe burn cases, the skin may not be able to regrow to cover your original wound. This usually results in a loss of normal movement for this region of the body. Rehabilitative therapy can help restore some function. However, the effects will be permanent.
Nerve Damage
When you’ve endured a severe burn in an accident, it can result in damage to the nerve endings in your skin and in the muscles below. Some nerve regrowth is possible, though the majority of burn victims are left with lifelong nerve damage commonly resulting in tingling and numbness in the affected parts of their bodies.
Inability to Perspire
While nerve damage is serious, another hidden part of the body may also suffer permanent damage from a burn. Your sweat glands may never fully heal, which can lead to abnormal perspiration. In turn, this leads to a condition known as anhidrosis that prevents you from perspiring normally. As sweat is a way for your body to regulate its temperature, this dangerous condition can cause your body to overheat.
Psychological Impacts
On the outside, most burn victims will have visible reminders of what happened to them on that fateful day. However, even if you can successfully conceal the permanent physical reminders of your burn injury with clothing, the trauma from this event may never go away.
Those who suffered burns in catastrophic car accidents may be terrified of getting into a car. Regardless of the cause, these injuries can leave with ongoing physical pain and psychological issues like PTSD.
While there are treatment options to help you with physical and psychological trauma in the aftermath of a burn, it will be a long road to recovery. With the help of a Miami personal injury lawyer at Nuñez Law, P.L., you can seek compensation to cover the cost of treating your burn injuries.
