Thank you for your reply. I have was discharged from the Burns Clinic earlier this summer. The grafts are healing well and look pretty good. It is only fighting the constant contraction. That may just be how these things go. I will keep stretching! Thanks 

Thanks for posting to our forum.  I'm part of the team at Adult Burn Support UK and Dan's Fund For Burns.  I'm not medical so not able to give medical advice.  From my experience of supporting burn survivors over the years, I've learned that everyone's recovery from burns is individual to them and how they heal.  From what you've said, your recovery seems to be going well.  I believe the burns teams say it takes 18-24months for scars to fully mature and it's important to moisturise and massage to keep them supple, and do any exercises/stretches you've been given by the physio team to mobilise the areas. Regarding contractures and the neck pulling you've mentioned, if you haven't done so already, you should speak with your burns team who are best placed to advise you through their experience and expertise of working with burns.   

If you'd like to speak with other burn survivors, we host a weekly online burn support live chat every Wednesday 7.30-9pm on this website - you can click the blue live chat button to find out more. You can join to ask questions, connect and share experiences of living with a burn injury. The online chat works like a whatsapp group - it's a fully typed chat.  You've already registered so you would just login and then click live chat and join live chat any Wednesday evening between 7.30pm & 9pm.

Wishing you all the best for your recovery.

Best,

Jennifer

New guy here. I hope you are all healing well. I just wondered if anyone can offer any insight on the healing of varying thickness neck skin grafts. Specifically, how long do you have to keep stretching them - is contracture a lifelong issue? I was burned in a mini explosion but the polyester fleece I was wearing caught fire and that is what caused my neck burns to require grafts. My face, ears and nose healed pretty well by themselves. The surgeons did fantastic work. I am at 11 months now since the incident and I still have to stretch the grafts several times a day. Strangely, I notice the contraction most when I am walking through a shop. It feels as if I have a big piece of cold stiff rubber glued to my neck pulling down and it can affect my speech. I don’t feel self-conscious or worried about what my neck looks like, I think it is my upright posture at these times and turning my head to look at things. The grafts start at my chin along my jawline to behind my ear and then down to my chest. It’s a little more than 50% of the front of my neck on the right side. There are a couple of cords that have formed. I have pretty good mobility and I have been in a good frame of mind since the accident because I realised how much worse it might have been if I hadn’t been able to dive into a pond to put the fire out. Consequently I have felt extremely lucky in the circumstances. The stretching and tightness is getting me down a bit now though, although I do think it may be easing up a little. Has anyone been through this before? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. ☺️ 

Thanks so much, however it hasn’t  been an easy journey  and still it isn't. I has been so challenging  to the point  that i could find myself  with no one to talk to because  the only people  i had n my life were my grandparents  who later passed on. So literally  i was all left alone .This was not an easy situation  but however  it helped  be strong  and know  i  that im on my own

Hi Ritah,

Thanks for visiting and posting to the Adult Burn Support UK Forum and sharing your story.  You're amazing!  Sounds like you've navigated a lot with your burns and through your journey, you have gained strength and acceptance along with a very positive and confident outlook - so great to see and thanks again for sharing.  I'm sure your post will inspire others as they go through their burns recovery.  

All the best to you.

Jennf (part of the Adult Burn Support UK and Dan's Fund For Burns team)

I got burnt the head  and lost my hair, alittle bit of my right eye and the whole of my right hand.Life has been really challenging. In my 20's i used to hide myself, i tried  to hide my scars,my hand .I would  make sure i leave home with something like a sweater ,scarf or anything  to cover  my hand so i can hide it.

Just of recently  i was like why im putting myself through  this, so i accepted  myself  for who Iam, i have learnt  to love myself however much  its not easy but atleast today I'm abit different from the past years in terms of how i feel about myself. 

Ritah. 

Nice to meet you and sorry I wasn't on the chat last night but hope you found it useful and everyone was welcoming.  I am a burn survivor of 22 years so do reach out for support and help. I set up the charity 21 years ago and we are here to help :).  You are not alone.

Keep in touch.

Best wishes,

Hi Calum,

Thanks for registering on the Adult Burn Support UK website and posting to our forum.  Sorry to hear about your burn injury and glad your nurses recommended our forum.  If you'd like to speak in real time with other burn survivors, our weekly online burn support live chat is every Wednesday evening, 7.30-9.00pm (UK Time) so you could try to join us if you're free this evening.  

It's a moderated online burn support live chat where anyone affected by burns can join to ask questions, share experiences, discuss any concerns they may be having in relation to burns and mutually support each other.  Our moderators are all burn survivors themselves.  If this interests you, then just login to this website with the username and password you registered with and then click the blue 'LIVE CHAT' button at the top of the page to go to the live chat page, once the chat is live between 7.30 and 9pm, scroll down the page and click 'join live chat'. 

Hope you're able to join us online one of these weeks if not tonight.

Best wishes,

Jennf (part of the ABSUK and Dan's Fund For Burns Team)