Scientists have discovered the appropriate time to place the parts of the body that are exposed to burns underwater to help heal them.
According to research by leading dermatologists, 20 minutes is the best time to put a burn under tap water. Doing so reduces the depth of the burn by 56 percent – a way to measure damage to the skin.

Professor Hugh Wright, Consultant Hand Surgeon at Leeds General Hospital who led the study, conducted experiments on 30 pieces of tissue donated from patients who had undergone breast reconstruction. It is called a medium thickness burn, where the damage penetrates only the top layer of the skin. This is the most common form of burns.

The tissues were then placed under water cooled to 16°C – the average temperature of tap water – for 20 different minutes, and compared to scorched, uncooled skin. Professor Wright explains that the cooling effect interferes with the physical process that causes skin damage after a burn.

When the skin is injured, the immune system releases proteins called cytokines that protect the wound from infection, but often, too many cytokines are released in response to the burn, leading to long-term inflammation in the affected area and increased tissue damage as a result.
Professor Wright’s study argues that wound cooling stops the release of cytokines, limiting tissue damage. Wright said findings presented at the British Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons in December show that if more burns were exposed to cold water for 20 minutes, there would be fewer severe burns treated in hospitals. British.