"Antidote" For Phenol Burns - What do you use? (Dec/10/2007 )

I've been toying with the idea of introducing a treatment into the lab just in case someone is unfortunate enough to experience phenol burns. However, reading around what other people do is confusing:
Some labs use polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP).
Some labs use Polyethylene glycol 300 or 400 : Industrial Methylated Spirits (70:30)
Some labs use ethanol (which I'd strongly advise against!)
Some labs use water
Some labs warn against using water

Personally I'm leaning towards 70% v/v PEG 400 in IMS but I'd like to hear from other folk just to see what they think (and why they think it).

Anyone?

Why not ethanol?

Ethanol causes secondary reactions with the phenol/tissue and makes the chemical burns much worse.
I've seen this in the lab once and it was pretty nasty.

I would avoid further organic solvent irritation. Wash with a gental ditergent, rise with a lot of water, put some ice on the wound area. Put some skin care product over it. Inflammation is sure to come, maybe better treatment targeting this effect can help. If serious, you should see a medical doctor.

I love it when someone has done the experiment!!!

1: Ann Emerg Med. 1992 Nov;21(11):1303-7. Links
Effects of isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, and polyethylene glycol/industrial methylated spirits in the treatment of acute phenol burns.Hunter DM, Timerding BL, Leonard RB, McCalmont TH, Schwartz E.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of water rinse with those of isopropyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol with industrial methylated spirits, or ethanol on cutaneous phenol burns. DESIGN: Controlled trial with all animals receiving all treatments applied to different cutaneous phenol burn sites. TYPE OF PARTICIPANTS: Swine weighing 9 to 18 kg. INTERVENTIONS: In phase 1, each burn site was treated with water rinse for zero, one, or five minutes combined with either isopropyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol with industrial methylated spirits, ethanol, or no other treatment. Biopsies of treatment sites were done at 30 minutes and at 48 hours. In phase 2, a pilot study, the effect of isopropyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol with industrial methylated spirits, or water treatment on serum phenol levels was noted in animals with 5%, 10%, and 15% body surface area burns. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: In phase 1, on histological examination of biopsy specimens, significant differences in tissue damage occurred among the groups (P < .05). Isopropyl alcohol and polyethylene glycol with industrial methylated spirits were the most efficacious treatments; the duration of water rinse had no significant effect. In phase 2, the systemic absorption of phenol may be greater with water treatment than with isopropyl alcohol treatment. CONCLUSION: Isopropyl alcohol and polyethylene glycol with industrial methylated spirits are equally effective in the amelioration of phenol burns of less than 5% total surface area. The wider availability of isopropyl alcohol makes it potentially the most useful treatment for these small burns. Further studies of its risks are needed.

PMID: 1416322 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Yes, I saw that paper but didn't want to allude to it in case folk had their own in-house treatments.

I don't have access to the full paper and I'd like to see exactly what mol weight of PEG they used and it's ratio to IMS. Actually, I'd like to see exactly what they did so that I can judge for myself.

Erm, apparently there is a papers request section in this forum but you don't have access to the full thing, do you? I've had a hunt via various free places but I can only ever find the abstract.

Edit: Actually I am going to ask in the request papers thread.

Yeah, I didn't have access to the whole article either, wanted to see the results with ethanol... have put in a request through our library but will see if you get it quicker by asking here...