Help - burn - may be infected?

About a week ago I spilt boiling hot water on my leg, only a very small amount. it burnt me and formed a blister, about 2x1 cm on my thigh. a few days ago the blister sort of shrank and burst - i washed it in the shower, and it's now sort of hardened, not quite formed a scab or a scar or anything though. thing is, around the actual burn mark there's a lighter red area, about 1cm circling it, which is actually quite large. this also hurts a little to touch. is this normal or could it have gotten infected?

Reply 1

Helenia

Sounds to me like it's healing normally - the redness is just because all the capillaries around it dilate to help healing. If it's really hot to touch, or if it's oozing stuff I'd be more worried. Just keep it clean and keep an eye on it. If you're worried, (and this does look silly, but it works!) draw a line around the red area and watch it over a day or so to see if it gets bigger.