I’ve been creating a character for a realistic fiction piece who was severely burned on his torso and arms. It’s about the 1990s, and he’s only recently been able to go back to high school after treatment. I’ve learned a bit about major burn treatment, such as how hypothermia is a major issue in burn wards, and I’ve heard that the burns I’m describing would necessitate breathing support early on. I have a few questions: What would the burns look like several months/a year or so afterwards? What are some treatments used in severe burn cases, and what is the typical schedule of treatment? I’m willing to clarify if needed, and thank you beforehand for helping me understand this.
Look into skin grafts. The heaviest of burns require temporary or permanent replacement of the skin. Nasty topic, a burn-victim may be covered by skin from a pig donor for a good couple days.
When I was a child in the 1950s, my grandparents had a friend who had been a PT boat captain in the Navy during WW2. Like JFK, he had his boat shot out from under him and had to swim through burning fuel to escape. When I knew him it was fifteen to twenty years later. I don't recall ever seeing him with his shirt off (although my grandparents had a house on the coast of Maine, so we might have gone swimming. His face and hands didn't look badly scarred, but his skin looked dry and wrinkled, like you would expect on someone closer to ninety years old rather than a man not yet fifty. His hands also didn't have full mobility.
