Most of us have experienced a minor burn at some point. A splash of hot water, a touch of a hot pan, or a burst of steam can leave skin red, painful, and tender for days. While most minor burns heal without complications, discomfort can be significant, and many people worry about lingering marks or scarring.

To help you understand your homeopathic options in these cases, I turn to great advice offered years ago by one of the best homeopathic physicians who ever lived – Dr. Adolph Lippe, MD.

Dr. Lippe is considered by many medical historians to have produced the best results recorded in the history of medicine. Certainty about his exemplary results is possible because he was required by law to submit his patient records annually to the Board of Health in the city of Philadelphia, where he had a very large and prosperous practice.

Regarding treating burns using homeopathy, he wrote the following:

"Every individual case will require its individual treatment according to the law of cure (similia similibus curantur), and, therefore, many remedies, not mentioned in this short essay, may be indicated in some cases as the symptoms accompanying such injuries, as well as the causes may indicate them.

First Degree Burns:

The first degree (burn) is often caused by steam or from the contact of more or less hot substances; it produces a deep, not circumscribed redness of the skin without swelling, which vanishes when pressed upon the fingers. The skin peels off in a few days.

Remedies to consider: Arsenicum album, Belladonna, Euphorbium, Hammamelis, Rhus tox., and Terebinthina correspond with that condition of the skin. I have found Hammamelis the most efficacious remedy; the distilled preparation externally applied, will reduce the pain immediately.

Second Degree Burns:

The second-degree burn causes the epidermis to become either spontaneously or gradually elevated to a smaller or larger blister, filled with a yellow or transparent fluid. The redness and swelling of the skin are more intense than in the first degree, the pain more severe—burning. The vesicles shrink and dry up; the fluid is absorbed; the skin is thrown off; or, if they burst or are opened, the fluid is emptied, the blister sinks in and dries up, a new epidermis is formed, or the place festers.

Remedies to consider: No remedies correspond closer to this condition than Cantharis, which if early enough applied will prevent the blisters from forming to any extent. Where they have formed, the tincture (or 30C potency in water) of Cantharis applied with a brush (or a wet paper towel) externally, will soon relieve the pain…”

As with any medical condition, consult with your physician if you have any concerns about the severity of your condition as it may first require medical diagnosis and/or intervention and monitoring.

About Dr. Lisa Samet:

Dr. Lisa Samet, N.D., provides Washington Homeopathic Products with a regular column on using homeopathy for the family. She's a naturopathic physician who specializes in homeopathic medicine. Dr. Samet graduated from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in 1998 and has been practicing in Montreal since then. She was born and raised in New York.

Dr. Samet has chosen to focus on homeopathy because, in her experience, it is the deepest healing modality available, as it does not just soothe or palliate symptoms but actually stimulates the body to begin healing itself. Dr. Samet sees patients in her Montreal office as well as long-distance using Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime. Learn more here: Dr. Lisa Samet. You can follow her on Facebook as well.