Medicine Our skin has no chance against water vapor burns

Hot steam penetrates directly through the pores of the skin

Are the potatoes ready? Is the water already boiling? Who handles in the kitchen comes quickly in contact with hot steam. Anyone who has ever burned it knows how fast it works. A team of researchers scrutinized the effects of hot steam on human skin in a paper and documented how our skin is vulnerable to hot steam.

The wounds after a steam combustion superficially look rather harmless. Mostly only a redness is seen. However, the actual damage lies in the lower skin and should not be underestimated. Hot water vapor easily penetrates the pores of the upper skin layer and triggers in the lower layers of the skin almost invisible severe burns. The scientists of the research institution Empa recently published their study results in the scientific journal "Nature Scientific Reports".

Hot steam is quickly underestimated. It can easily overcome the protective function of the skin and trigger direct burns in the lower layers of the skin. (Image: alephnull / fotolia.com)

Skin burns due to water vapor are particularly treacherous

The Empa researchers report that skin burns caused by water vapor are often particularly treacherous. In this type of burn, the skin surface may remain largely intact, while causing severe damage under the skin. This is primarily because our skin is unable to protect us from hot steam. In dry heat, our skin provides some protection against high temperatures. Water vapor on the other hand penetrates the skin and damages directly.

Steam overcomes the protective functions

"We were able to show that the uppermost layer of the skin, the epidermis, can not properly perform its protective function in the presence of water vapor," explains researcher René Rossi in a press release on the study results. The steam penetrates through the skin pores on the lower skin layer, which is called dermis or dermis. Only then does the vapor condense, releasing the heat energy contained and triggering second-degree burns directly.

About the study

Pigskin served as a test object due to its similarity to human skin. This was exposed to hot water vapor. Subsequently, the scientists investigated the water content in the various skin layers with the help of so-called Raman spectroscopy. This analysis method provides information about material properties based on the scattering of the light. The researchers showed that hot water vapor can penetrate much deeper into deeper skin layers than dry heat.

The pores of the uppermost skin layer are larger than a water molecule

The research results show that the pores of the uppermost skin layer are larger than the water molecules. For this reason, the vapor simply moves through the upper skin layer. After about 15 seconds, the epidermis swells due to the absorbed water, which closes the pores and prevents further penetration. However, massive damage has already been done to the lower layers of the skin.

The afterburning effect of the skin

To make matters worse, according to the scientists, the skin is a poor conductor of heat. Recorded heat can be released only very slowly. This creates an afterburning effect where the heat still causes damage to the skin after the heat source stops acting on the skin. According to the researchers, this effect is particularly strong when burned by water vapor, as the heat penetrates quickly and deeply into the skin.

Quick remedies reduce the effect

"For a steam combustion, the skin must therefore be cooled for a long time and persistently," says Rossi. According to the expert, two minutes in an ice bath or ice-cold water is not enough to dissipate the high amount of energy from the deeper skin layers. Further aids can be found in the article Hausmittel gegen Verbrennungen. (Vb)