Prompt cooling of burned areas: a review of benefits and the effector mechanisms.

Arguably one of the oldest recorded methods of treating burns is still recommended today, namely prompt cooling of the injured part, usually in cold water. Such therapy was recommended by Galen (AD 129-199) and Rhazes (AD 852-923) Earle (1799) and by Sorensen (1967). As a first aid measure it has numerous advocates in the 1970s and 1980s. Almost certainly subjective considerations initiated this form of treatment and only within recent times have objective studies confirmed the beneficial effects of a more rapid reduction in tissue temperature and thus severity of injury.