Among burns, chemical burns are usually of lesser extent but tend to be more serious due to the depth of these wounds. Last year we had to treat an increased number of chemical injuries, the most severe among these was a young man with 45% basic burn injury. In a retrospective study we collected data on patients with chemical burns admitted to our Burn Unit during the last 10 years. 
During the period of 2007 January 1st and 2016 December 31st we hospitalized 2499 patients with burns, among these 36 patients suffered chemical injuries. This represented 1,44% of our admissions with a mean age of 39,41 (2-75 years). Extent of the injuries were in the range of 1-45% TBSA with an average extent of 4,6%. The hands were the most common involved body site. The injuries required surgical treatment in 26 patients (72%). Account is given about the causes of injuries and their distribution over the observed years. Based on the presented data, the incidence of corrosive injuries seems to increase over time at least in the region served by our center. This is in opposition to trends in incidence of burn injuries in general, with its cause unknown to us. We figure that more and more households use cold degreasers which is a strong basic substance. Interesting that these increased numbers still represent the lower threshold of incidence among burn admissions when compared to data from the literature (1,4-8.5 %).

Chemical burns treated at the Burns Unit in Debrecen during the last decade