How to Identify Radiation Burns

Radiation burns are far more common than you might think. Almost all of us have suffered from the most common type--sunburn--at one time or another. Others have dealt with burns due to radiation therapy. We live with a certain amount of background radiation in our environment without harm, but when we're overexposed, burns are one of the warning signals.

Instructions

• 1

  Find out what kind of radiation you've been exposed to. Sunburn, the most common type of radiation burn, is due to exposure to ultraviolet-B rays that burn the tissue under the skin. This burn is usually an overall red inflammation on exposed parts of the skin. Like any other burn, sunburn can be first, second or third degree, with the worst burns raising blisters and leaving scars after healing. Sunburn radiates heat, and part of the secret to successfully treating sunburn is to help the heat escape by cooling the burned area.

• 2

  Look for specific patterns of burn from radiation therapy. Radiation burns from therapeutic X-ray and radiation treatment appear on the part of the body the radiation penetrated to attack the target cells. A red, inflamed area appears, often with little sores scattered where the ray was strongest. Although the regulation of medical radiation has improved greatly, patients who must have repeated treatment or X-rays often develop these burns.

• 3

  Consider job-related sources. Radiation from industrial sources can be external, like a burn caused by handling radioactive material, or internal, like those suffered by welders when the infrared and ultraviolet radiation given off by a carbon-arc torch burns the cornea of the eye. External burns can be identified by their patchy, red inflammation. Burned corneas can result in blindness, and burns caused by carbon-arc radiation can also be suffered by someone simply watching the welding process.

• 4

  Take stock of where you've been recently. There are other, unexpected types of radiation burns from products like heat and tanning lamps that emit large doses of infrared rays. Burns suffered from these appliances look much like sunburn, with an all-over red inflammation the most common result. Like other radiation burns, they may not appear at the time of exposure but develop sometime afterward.