Preface

The aim of this book is to give readers a broad review of burn injuries, which may affect people from birth to death and can lead to high morbidity and mortality.

The book consists of four sections and seven chapters. The first section consists of the intro‐ ductory review chapter, which overviews the burn injuries. The second section includes chapter "Burn Etiology and Pathogenesis," which focuses on burn injuries and clinical find‐ ings. The third section consists of chapter "Controlling Inflammation in Burn Injury" and is devoted to the role of inflammatory response, which is fundamental to the healing process, while a prolonged inflammation may lead to scarring and fibrosis. The fourth section con‐ sists of four chapters as follows: "Therapeutic Effects of Conservative Treatments on Burn Scars," "Herbal Therapy for Burns and Burn Scars," "Platelet-Rich Plasma in Burn Treat‐ ment," and "Surgical Treatment of Burn Scars."

We are grateful to all the contributors and leading experts for the submission of their wonder‐ ful work that provides an in-depth view of all aspects of the content, backed with the most current literature in the field. We offer our special thanks and appreciation to Ms. Kristina Kardum, Publishing Process Manager, for her encouragement and help in bringing out the book in the present form and to our families for their understanding for missed family time.

We express our heartfelt gratitude to great Atatürk, who said "Our true mentor in life is science" and inspired the importance of working on positive science.

**Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selda Pelin Kartal**

Ministry of Health Ankara Dişkapı Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital Dermatology Clinic Ankara, Turkey

#### **Prof. Dr. Dilek Bayramgürler**

Kocaeli University Department of Dermatology Kocaeli, Turkey

**Section 1**

**General Description of Burn Injuries**

**General Description of Burn Injuries**

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: An Introduction to Burn Injuries**

Burn injury of the skin is characterized by the damage to skin tissue from hot (scald, flash, flame, contact), cold, electrical, chemical, radiation, sunlight, or other sources. Burns constitute one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They can result in significant disfigurement, physical impairment, work loss, psychological problems, and considerable economic burden. Prevention of burn is considered the best strategy to reduce the overall burden of burns. The impact and the management of burn injury depend on the severity of burn. Although minor burns can be treated at outpatient clinics, the management of patients with severe burns requires multidisciplinary approach in specialized burn care centers. Burn trauma differs from the other causes of injuries in many aspects. Increased knowledge about the pathophysiology of burn provided better treatment plans and led to the improvement of overall outcome for these patients. Formation of scar is an undesired consequence of burn with many long-term complications. The local treatment of burn wound should address the major concerns of wound care including anti-inflammatory treatment, wound coverage, and prevention of infection and scar formation. Although superficial burns may be managed with topical treatment, deep burns require excision and grafting. As traditional treatments have many limitations, alternative options with better outcomes have been searched in the restoration of damaged tissues. Tissue-engineered products, stem cells, and gene therapy constitute new concepts that offer promise in the treatment of burn wounds. Although the results with these innovations are encouraging, they require sophisticated techniques, and evidence for their long-term efficacy in burn wounds is lacking. Future search will introduce novel therapeutic options and assist in the establishment of standard burn wound

**Introductory Chapter: An Introduction to Burn Injuries**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.71973

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Selda Pelin Kartal, Cemile Tuğba Altunel and

Selda Pelin Kartal, Cemile Tuğba Altunel and

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71973

Dilek Bayramgurler

**1. Introduction**

care in clinical settings [1–3].

Dilek Bayramgurler

**Provisional chapter**
