Why the First Ten Minutes Decide Everything
A burn injury does its worst damage in the minutes after contact. The skin continues to cook from retained heat even after the source is gone, a process called progressive dermal ischaemia, documented in burn medicine since the 1970s. The only intervention that interrupts it is cool running water held over the burn for at least 20 minutes. Everything else, and Indian kitchens have a long list of everything else, either traps that heat, introduces bacteria, or chemically irritates already compromised skin.
