Burns Care and Scar Management
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is the leading NHS tertiary centre for burns care in London with state of the art facilities and an expert team. This service includes the Adult Burns Centre and the Paediatric Burns Unit.
Our burns multidisciplinary team comprises consultants, anaesthetists, intensivists, specialist nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, occupational and physical therapists and dietitians. Our Burns Care and Scar Management consultants provide acute care for patients with burns as well as plastic surgery, soft tissue reconstruction for trauma, laser treatments for old and new scars and additional therapies aimed at improving the texture and pigmentation of scars.
We offer care both for inpatients and outpatients. For our inpatients, our specialist treatment includes:
- Mobility and functional assessments and rehabilitation
- Patient specific treatment and goal setting
- Splinting and specialised exercise programmes
- Assessment and holistic planning to facilitate safe hospital discharge
- Ongoing burns specific rehabilitation during hospital stay
- Early scar management, treatment and intervention.
For outpatients, we have both a dressings clinic and a designated outpatient scar therapy department. The specialist treatments we offer include:
- Pressure garments (custom made garments produced in house by our pressure garment technicians)
- Silicone therapy and advice
- Splinting, which prevents scar deformation and risk of further surgery
- Cosmetic camouflage
- Face masks (contoured silicone lined masks to improve the appearance of scars)
- LPG (vacuum massage). This involves attending two weekly appointments to receive mechanical massage
- Micro-needling (a non-surgical, aesthetic device helping to improve the texture and pigment of scars)
- Gym sessions, to continue rehabilitation in a gym setting to help build strength and prevent contractures
- Advice on general scarring including moisturising/massage/sun exposure.
Beyond burns care, our plastic surgery team also provide a number of aesthetic and cosmetic procedures using both surgical and non-surgical techniques. Find out more about our cosmetic surgery and non-invasive procedures.
