As temperatures soar in the Southwest, doctors say heat-related illnesses aren’t the only health hazards filling emergency rooms. Cases of contact burns, some as severe as second or third degree burns, have increased significantly during this heat wave.
Emergency workers in Arizona and Nevada reported a spike in cases of contact burns as temperatures climbed into triple digits and have stayed high for weeks.
Burns typically occur when people fall or pass out on sunburned pavement and other hot surfaces. During intense heat waves, as has been unfolding across the Southwest, even being in contact with these surfaces for short periods of time can cause serious damage, said Dr. Kara Geren, an emergency physician at Valleywise Health in Phoenix.
“The burns can be very severe and disfiguring to the point where you have to undergo what is called a skin graft, where they take skin from other parts of the body and cover it up,” he said.
As with heat-related illnesses, children, older adults, people who work outdoors and the homeless tend to be at higher risk of burns, he said.
Geren said two burn patients were admitted earlier this week right at the end of their shift: one who fell and couldn’t get up and another who had suspected seizures and was found on the floor with third-degree burns.
At least 10 people were treated for contact burns at Valleywise Health last week, according to a hospital spokesperson. Geren said she expects more as the heat wave lingers into next week.
“The burn unit is very full,” he said. «Just keep going.»
Contact burns happen every year when temperatures rise in the summer, but doctors said people should be extra careful during severe heat waves.
Last year, the Arizona Burn Center treated 85 cases of heat-related burns between June and August, according to a report released last month by Valleywise Health. Some of those patients were admitted with body temperatures of more than 108 degrees Fahrenheit and seven people died of their injuries, the hospital said.
Nearly two weeks ago, Christopher Malcolm, a 73-year-old Air Force veteran, suffered third-degree burns while waiting for a bus in Las Vegas. He said that it was around 110 F that day and he began to feel overheated, so he sat on the sidewalk.
“I guess the pavement was hot enough to burn even though I was wearing blue jeans,” he said, adding that he sat on the pavement for about 40 minutes and didn’t realize the severity of his injury.
Dr. Syed Saquib, a trauma and burn surgeon at the University Medical Center of Las Vegas, said super-hot pavement can cause serious injuries in a short time.
“When the temperature in our valley goes above 100 degrees, 110 degrees, the pavement depending on the surface can get as hot as 160 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said, “and all it takes is a couple of seconds of skin exposure to create a second degree burn.”
Last weekend, when temperatures peaked in the Southwest, officials with the Las Vegas office of the National Weather Service measured temperatures on different surfaces when the ambient air temperature was 115 F, and found large differences between rock, concrete, and asphalt in the shade and in the sun.
For example, a rocky sidewalk in the shade was 115.1 F, but it was 155.8 F in the sun. While the shaded asphalt registered 128.4 F, that same type of surface under the sun was almost 158 F.
Malcom was scheduled to undergo surgery last Friday. He said that this type of injury was completely unexpected.
“I’ve dealt with the heat before,” he said. “I lived in the Philippines for about seven years. I never had a problem with heat. I have been here for about 22 or 23 years, I never had any problem with the heating until about 12 days ago.
Still, Malcolm said, he’s thankful he didn’t collapse on the sidewalk and sustain even more serious injuries.
“I consider myself lucky,” he said.
Denise Chow reported from New York, Erin McLaughlin from Las Vegas and Marissa Parra from Phoenix.