Looking and touching the burn site now, it feels almost like regular skin. I still don’t probe it very much, fearing that it may still be tender for her and inadvertently hurting her. But as far as I can tell she is okay now. There is still a small speck of scab, but it is not much bigger than what you’d get from scratching a mozzie bite.

Upon closer inspection there are small areas that do look slightly “more severe” in that it has a slightly lighter pigmentation, with a very light tinge of gloss- typical of scar from a cut.

So now the whole area is looking like this.

And I reckon it is time to look into the various creams, gels, applications, etc, that are available on the market as treatment for reducing visible scarring.

The above link to Wikipedia also included a list of treatments, with Mederma list at the top. It had this description:

Mederma- Contains allium cepa, and many other ingredients, i used it on cheek piercings that started to go crazy, it cleared them up, so in the case of piercings mederma definetly works and is way cheaper than other methods.

It would probably also be the cheapest from Guardian pharmacy’s shelves too, seeing as the other ones I saw there were in forms of patches of wrong sizes (too small).

Based on the photo, think I can start looking at these treatments?

A girl’s entitled to wearing mini skirts proudly!

So now I think we can start considering the other aspect from the healing of this accident- getting rid of the the scar.

I know some of you have suggested mederma and equivalents. Do you have anymore, or any experience with this and other brands, and how they have worked out for you? Would appreciate any(more) suggestions…

While she is only 4, and also that I am her father, there will be a time in her life where she’d like to be able to wear a short skirt; or at least that I will (have to) allow her to! I wouldn’t want my daughter (even if it wasn’t Caitlin) to be weary of something like this and feel inhibited from enjoying her young adult life….

You expect them to fall down once a while.
You expect them to get hurt once a while.
You expect them to get a bump on the head, a cut there, a bruise here.

But you don’t expect them to be scalded.

At dinner tonite, Grandma was serving up dinner. Caitlin was seated already next to me, at the far side of the table against the doorway into the dining area. Grandma was coming in with bowls of hot soup. She makes them really hot. She reached forward to put a bowl down infront of Caitlin for her, and it slipped out of her hand, away from her, towards Caitlin.

Without really thinking I made the mistake of trying to sweep away the soup from her lap; thinking to remove the hot element from skin.
Grandma comes in to carry her off the wet seat.
I went to get some cloth- anything, to wet with cold water to put over the area.
Grandma says NO.
By which time Mummee was rushing down after hearing the scream. She was shouting DO NOT GET ICE.
My wet cloth was ignored. I could see some peeled skin. It looks like what it’d be like a few days after being sunburnt.
Mummee came with toothpaste, and we all started to spread it over the area.
Caitlin starts to settle.

The old school Chinese old wives way was NOT to encourage quick contraction after a hot expansion. My basic first aid was ignored. We then remembered some ointment bought from China by either grandparents, which had quickly healed the assistant’s hands during the sideshow (more like freakshow) demo, where he applied the ointment immediately after grasping red hot iron bar- don’t ask.

4-5 hours later we are back at our apartment, our regular routine, ready for bed. Mummee’s gentle dabs removed the toothpaste ready for another application of Chinese ointment. Cleared, we could see the damage. Blisters. Multiple of them. Bigger and smaller than peanuts. And the roll of broken skin.

I called Dr Pixie to ask what else we could do other than to air it. She said to go get sulphur silver diazine. It would help with the burn, and it is also antiseptic.

In the conversation I related the whole ordeal, whether it was likely to scar- YES. Provided the blisters aren’t popped during this whole time. but definitely there will be different pigmentation during / after healing.

But I made the worst mistake. I effectively already removed some skin when I swept her lap. It would be those area that is guaranteed to scar; don’t even talk about popping the blisters, I had already effectively done that.

I went to the only 24 hours pharmacy I could think of- Pantai Hospital, not too far from here. Got 60g of the cream, at RM12.40. They call is Flamazine

She is sleeping now with Mummee.

In the coming days these are what I am anticipating:
- her in her school uniform- how do we ensure the area is kept medicated?
- her in her school uniform- how do we ensure she doesn’t get the area accidentally bumped / scraped / pop the blisters?
- her in regular clothes- to remove them to go pee? Who’s gonna help her removal?
- her in bed- same precautions as above?

I feel like shit. I feel much worse actually.

I say used to ‘cos my middle-aged knee has been reminding me that I am not as young as I used to be; since something like 2003.

One time in the late 90′s, way before I was (in the mood of) seeing anyone, I used to spend lots of time with my family. I remind you that I am the youngest, which means there are lots of nieces and nephews already. The oldest of that generation, a niece of 15 years my junior, is also rather keen in sports, and had a pair of skates herself. Whenever Dr Pixie visited with the kids, I’d get this niece to go skating with me in the neighbourhood roads. It was quite good fun, connecting with her, getting a workout as well- uphill skating really works the ass muscle.

Anyway. During all those times no one said anything about her and I skating around. Then there was a family trip to Awana where again we brought our skates. After settling in at the hotel, I asked her if she wanted to go skating. She said yes, and it was then that Dr Pixie commented “Hey, you are a girl lah, what if you fell and get bruises and scars on your legs??”

That was the last time we skated together.

I wasn’t sure what to think of it. In some ways I didn’t agree with the ‘prohibition”, after all, its a sport and she could skate reasonably well. On the other hand, I can understand the wish to avoid injuries that scar. I have another niece (this same one) who has a rather long one along her shin after falling into a drain (I think it was a drain). I won’t say that it is unsightly, but my eyes are drawn to it everytime I see it.

And as far as I know, she is still quite the athlete at school.

Having said that though, I think when Caitlin is of age I’d probably get her into some outdoor activities and active sports like this, but fully decked out in helmet and guards and kevlar vests and insurance with the ambulance on standby trailing us on first gear…..

All this is of course due to aesthetic reasons. It’s a bit sexist I guess, that guys can be all scarred and macho but girls have to be the immaculate creatures of elegance…..

Would you stop your daughter from getting into a hobby or sport that would risk scars? Or just let them be, within reasonable physical safety?

Photo taken.. sheesh I can’t even remember when. I know it was after Caitlin and before Caleb. This is the group organised by Skateline, the skates retailer in TTDI, that organises weekly or so skating trips around parts of KL. I still prefer the night skates at Putrajaya- nothing like skating on tiles and marble!

That’s me in the extreme right. I haven’t got the kevlar bullet proof vest. I don’t need it, see.