Friction Burn

What are friction burns?

Friction burns happen when an object or surface rubs hard enough against your skin to generate heat and forcefully damage tissue. The severity of the burn depends partly on the texture of the surface, the amount of force involved and where on your body the burn happens.

Friction burns are very common and usually minor. If you’ve ever gotten a rope burn playing tug-of-war or a rug burn playing on carpet, those are both examples of minor friction burns. But under certain circumstances, they can be serious or even dangerous.

Burn levels

Minor friction burns damage your skin’s surface. If the burn is more severe, the damage can extend deeper into the skin. The older degree system for classifying burns isn’t widely used anymore. Now, healthcare providers classify burns by how deep they go. The levels of classification include:

• Superficial (similar to first degree)
• Partial thickness (similar to second degree)
• Full thickness (similar to third degree)

While it isn’t common, you can have burns that extend so deep they affect tissue beneath your skin. Burns like that can damage muscle, bone and other deep tissues.

Friction burns also involve two types of damage. Like the name implies, thermal (heat) damage is one of them. The other type of damage happens because of the physical forces involved with the friction.

When friction happens with enough force behind it, it can weaken and tear your skin, similar to what happens with abrasions. With enough force, the upper layers of skin can separate from the layers beneath. In the most severe cases, friction burns can strip away layers of skin, damaging more sensitive tissues beneath.

What are the symptoms of friction burns?

The symptoms of friction burns vary depending on how deep the burn goes and how much body surface area it affects. The most common symptoms, depending on depth, include:

• Pain. Superficial and partial-thickness burns are usually painful. Full-thickness burns are deep enough to damage nerve endings — which means the burn itself isn’t painful. But you can still feel pain from the area around the burn.
• Skin color changes. In lighter-skinned people, superficial burns can look red or pink. In darker-skinned people, burns may take on a reddish tinge or appear lighter than surrounding skin. Partial-thickness burns may also look lighter than surrounding skin as they heal. Full-thickness burns can make your skin ashen or pale, or darkened and charred.
• Blisters. Burn blisters tell you how deep a burn goes because only partial-thickness burns cause them. The blisters fill with fluid and later break open (but you shouldn’t try to break them).

What causes friction burns?

You can get friction burns from many sources, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Fabric materials, like clothing, upholstery on furniture, rugs or carpeting
• Rougher surfaces like concrete, cement or asphalt (especially if you’re moving quickly)
• Machinery that has moving or spinning belts or surfaces
• Rougher materials used in a job or hobby setting (like carpentry and woodworking), or working with ropes
• Exercise machines (like treadmills) or vacuum cleaners can create a friction burn risk for children

What are the complications of friction burns?

The physical forces that happen with friction burns can damage your skin. It also separates or even strips away layers of skin, potentially causing any of the following.

• Infections. Friction burns can let debris and germs work their way into the injury, creating an infection risk.
• Traumatic tattooing. This happens when debris gets embedded in your skin. When your skin heals, the particles and debris remain visible beneath your skin’s surface.
• Scarring. Burns that are severe or large scar heavily without treatment. That scar tissue can even limit how far you can bend or stretch an affected body part after the burn heals.

Severe or life-threatening complications

When burns are severe enough (partial- or full-thickness) and large enough, they put stress on multiple body systems. While this isn’t as common with friction burns, it’s still possible. When that happens, it can lead to dangerous effects like:

• Shock (due to fluid loss)
• Trouble breathing (dyspnea)
• Hypothermia (if your body can’t regulate its temperature because of skin damage)

These effects can be life-threatening without the right care to prevent or stop them.

How is a friction burn diagnosed?

A healthcare provider can diagnose a friction burn by looking at the injury. When possible, they’ll also ask you questions about how the injury happened. Lab and imaging tests won’t help with diagnosing a friction burn but they may help diagnose related conditions like bone fractures.

When burns are very severe, your provider might recommend blood or urine tests. These can detect delayed liver or kidney complications, which can sometimes be dangerous.

How are friction burns treated?

The possible treatments for friction burns depend mainly on their severity and what caused them. First aid for most friction burns usually involves the following:

• Remove clothing or jewelry around the burn.
• Run cold water over the burn for a few minutes immediately after it happens.
• Cover the burn with a sterile bandage or clean cloth. Don’t wrap any coverings too tightly because that can press on the burn, causing pain and affecting how it heals.

You can use simple, over-the-counter medications for pain with burns. Acetaminophen (Tylenol®) can help with pain only. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Advil® or Motrin®) may also help swelling. Be sure to follow the label instructions or talk to a healthcare provider if you have any questions about how to use these medications properly.

Superficial burns usually need little or no treatment. Some simple treatments you can try for superficial burns include:

• Using a cool compress to ease pain (but make sure it isn’t too cold and don’t use ice, because that can turn the burn into an even worse wound)
• Applying creams like aloe vera to soothe the skin (with burns small enough for your hand to cover)

Partial and full-thickness burns may need the following:

• Pain management. Your provider may prescribe pain medications that can help.
• Debridement, which involves removing debris from the burn and some of the damaged tissue.
• Bandaging or dressing over the burn, which can be very important if you have any blisters that break. Some dressings contain topical antibiotics to prevent infections.
• Surgery. Larger burns may need surgery to remove damaged or dead tissue. Surgery can also place skin grafts on top of the burn to help it heal and reduce scarring, or hide scarring after a burn heals.

Your healthcare provider can tell you more about the treatment options specific to your case. They can also tell you more about any side effects or complications possible from the treatments.

What not to do

There are several things you should avoid doing if you have a burn. They can make the injury worse or slow the healing process.

DON’T:

• Use ice. Ice can further damage burned tissue and make the injury worse.
• Use butter. This folk remedy doesn’t help burns and can actually make them worse.
• Use ointments too quickly or on deeper burns. Ointments and creams can make deeper burns worse. You can use creams on superficial burns.
• Break blisters. The burn can get infected if you do. It’s normal for them to break on their own after a few days.

Can friction burns be prevented?

Fiction burns are extremely preventable, especially from certain sources. Some of the most important ways to prevent them include:

• Wearing the right clothes when riding a motorcycle. That includes a helmet, jacket with long sleeves, full-length pants and boots. Clothing designed for motorcycle riders offers you the best odds of avoiding a friction burn from paved surfaces.
• Wearing the right protective padding during activities. Knee and elbow pads are important for preventing friction burns during many types of leisure activities.
• Following the instructions. Using machines and tools safely can help you avoid friction burns.
• Using caution with treadmills. These home exercise devices can cause friction burns to anyone but are particularly dangerous to children. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to protect children from burns and other injuries.
• Keeping hands clear of vacuum cleaners. The spinning brushes in many vacuum cleaners are a friction burn risk, especially for children. Don’t let your child get their hand near them.

What can I expect if I have a friction burn?

Superficial friction burns usually heal within two or three days. The smaller the burn and the more superficial it is, the faster it’ll heal.

Partial-thickness burns that aren’t deep usually heal within two to three weeks with proper care. Deep partial-thickness and full-thickness burns usually take three weeks or more because of how severe the damage is. Burns that go even deeper may take months to heal.

Other factors can also affect how long your burn takes to heal. Those include the treatments you received, any complications you experienced and more. Your healthcare provider is the best source of information about how long you should expect your recovery to take.

What’s the outlook for friction burns?

The outlook for friction burns is generally good, especially when these burns are small and superficial. When they’re larger and deeper, the outlook may change. Your healthcare provider can tell you about the outlook for your specific case.

How do I take care of myself?

If you have a friction burn, how you handle it depends on a few factors. If the burn is superficial, you can self-treat it. You can also usually self-treat smaller, shallower partial-thickness burns.

You should call your healthcare provider or seek medical care if:

• You aren’t sure how deep your burn is
• If you have debris in the burn or think you might
• Medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen don’t help with pain or fever afterward
• The burn doesn’t seem to be healing after a few days

When should I get emergency care for a friction burn?

You should get emergency medical care for possible partial-thickness burns when they:

• Are on your face or ears, hands or feet, or anywhere around your genitals
• Are larger than you can cover with your hand
• Go all the way around a limb (like your arm or leg)
• Turn red, swollen, have a foul smell or start oozing at some point while healing (these are signs of an infection)

Full-thickness burns always need professional medical attention. Without it, they’re more likely to take longer to heal and develop excess (hypertrophic) scar tissue. The excess scarring can limit movement of the surrounding tissues and body parts.

What questions should I ask my doctor?

Some questions you can ask your healthcare provider include:

• What can I do to help my burn heal?
• What treatments, if any, do you recommend?
• How long should it take for my burn to heal?
• What symptoms mean I need to get medical attention?