Burn treatment II

My second story is based on personal experience from what I learned from the first. A friend was burned badly by hot metal scraping her arm. It was a third degree burn, as the skin was charred black. It was about two inches long and a half inch wide, just above the crook of her arm, posterior to the bicep.

She initially chose to use an herb powder from South America, applied dry. Later we thought it had been meant to be used with water. The next day she asked me to look at it. The tissue was charred and caked with the herb powder. We soaked it with a warm water solution, with Lavender essential oil, and then gently removed what would come off easily of the caked powder. After that we placed wild bergamot infused olive oil, with honey and Lavender essential oil on the wound. (approx. 50:10:1).

The ointment was placed directly on the wound, and dressed. The dressing was changed daily and only the very top layer removed, after applying a warm water compress. The honey was sticky, so the warm water was used to soften the bandages, so as not to pull the skin. The treatment was continued for several days, with less, and less difficulty changing the dressing. After one week, St. John’s wort oil and comfrey oil were added to the formula and beeswax was added for structure. Bandaids could be used instead of gauze. The skin healed well. There is now (one year later) only a scar that shows a darkness of the involved area.

Cynthia Thomas

Wound Type

Oils Used

Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia)
Brand (organic from either Simplers or Sunny Pine Farm)
1 part of 61 parts, applied to cover well.

Role or Party Involvement

Practitioner

Burn Treatment I

I am an herbalist, in Minneapolis, MN. Most of my experiences with wounds and essential oils, are when they’ve been combined with herbs. My first experience with a variation of this burn treatment was while I was in Seattle, attending Bastyr University’s Herbal Sciences program.

One of my classmates was a part-time magician for children’s parties. One of his tricks included the use of flash powder, as a finale’. On one occasion, the flash powder misfired, and burned his hand quite badly. The burn was third degree (probably because he finished the show), with severe blistering and charring over about 60% of the back of his hand.

My friend came to one of our teacher’s for treatment, who recommended a blend of honey, herbs (comfrey and St. John’s wort) blended with oil, and a relatively large amount of Lavender essential oil. The mash was applied over a layer of cheese cloth, and changed daily for several days.

During that time the wound healed quickly and after several days the treatment was changed to oils infused with the herbs, honey, and Lavender essential oil. This was continued for a week, then followed with just St. John’s wort oil with Lavender essential oil, applied topically for several weeks.

I first saw the wound on the second or third day, and was told it looked better already. It was pink, the flesh looked “shredded”, but not inflamed. The patient is African American with very dark skin, and the contrast was striking. After one week, the skin was healed, there was almost no pink left, and after several weeks, there was only the slightest variation of skin texture, but color had returned to normal.

It cannot be said that one part of the formula worked over the other, but I always include Lavender in my burn treatments. (See story II)

Cynthia Thomas

Wound Type

Oils Used

Lavender Essential Oil
Brand unknown
In formula with herbs

Role or Party Involvement

Observer

Minor cuts

I used Purification oil on cuts on my hands and they healed with in 2 days, much faster than they usually do.

Wound Type

Oils Used

Young Living Purification blend of citronella, rosemary, lavender, lemongrass, tea tree, myrtle

Role or Party Involvement

blemish on face

I had a blemish on my face that was red and hard for about a month. It did not respond to aloe vera gel or hydrogen peroxide, so I tried a drop of cypress oil on it twice per day. Within two days the hardness was gone and the redness disappeared. I was amazed at how quickly it changed after such a long time. Within a few days the color faded and the size was greatly reduced. I quit using cypress oil and used helichrysum for two more days and it was no longer noticable.

Wound Type

Oils Used

Cypress and Helichyrsym, Young Living brand

Role or Party Involvement

60 year old women

SURGICAL TOOTH INFECTION

After I had my tooth removed, the pain remained for weeks. The dentist thought that there was an infection in there, so he gave me antibiotics. After two rounds of antibiotics there had been no change in the pain. The pain was about 5-6 out of 10. I begain using Thieves oil directly on the gums where the tooth was removed. I applied 1-2 drops of oil four times per day. It took about one week and the pain was down to a 2 out of 10. Within a month, the pain was gone.

Wound Type

Oils Used

Thieves oil, Young Living blend of clove, cinnamon, rosemary, lemon, Eucalyptus radiata

Role or Party Involvement

60 year old woman

warts

I noticed a wart on the inside of my left ankle. I applied Aveda’s Active Composition which contains Wintergreen 3 times a day to the wart. The wart disappeared within 2 weeks

Wound Type

Oils Used

Aveda Active composition

Role or Party Involvement

Self

surgery scar

In 2004, I had an appendectomy. Once I returned home, I created a 1% blend of Lavender, Carrot Seed, and Helichrysum in a base of Sweet Almond Oil. I applied this oil to the scar twice a day for 3 weeks. When I returned to the surgeon’s office for my follow up appointment, the nurse commented on how quickly the scar was healing.

Wound Type

Oils Used

helichrysum, lavender, carrot seed, sweet almond oil

Role or Party Involvement

Self

burns

I have gotten a sunburn several times in the past. I always use a lavender blend and amazed how quickly the pain disappears, usually within 24 hours.
The redness always disappears within 3 days.

Wound Type

Oils Used

lavender

Role or Party Involvement

Self

Rollerblading disaster - scrape

In 1992, I was rollerblading in the countryside for the first time. A hill approached that I was not prepared for and I ended up sliding off the road into the drop scraping my left shin (about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide). I applied a lavender massage oil twice daily to the wound. I noticed that the healing process took about 2 weeks total.

Wound Type

Oils Used

Lavender

Role or Party Involvement

Self

Leg scrape

My healing touch practitioner was gardening, filling a wheelborrow full of black dirt when the tire blew and the force threw her onto her patio.  As her patio consists of cement paving stones, her fall resulted in a 4 inch by 2 inch scrape on her leg that became infected.  She put “Elemi” on it and overnight the infection was gone.  The wound healed uneventfully after that.

Wound Type

Oils Used

Elemi

Role or Party Involvement

Friend