Third degree burns

There are literally multivolume sets of books on the topic and a post won't do it justice, perhaps at times simplifying things to the point of being wrong.

3rd degree is a bit of an archaic term (depends upon whom you read). Many now use the terms Partial Thickness, Full Thickness, and Charr.

Scabs are basically dried serum, blood, pus and necrotic debris. Skin keeps the water in. Without skin, your body leaks. In full thickness burns there will be a continual leak of serum and so what would have been a scab won't dry. All the stuff of a scab is there, but evaporation is less than the addition of liquid. That contant leak of fluid is dangerous and can lead to death by dehydration, depending upon the total body surface are that is involved, how well the wounds are cared for and how vigilantly one keeps up with replenishing IV fluid.

Burn wounds will contract as they heal and there is some ingrowth of at least scar tissue to try and cover the wounds but any patch larger than 1-2 inches (3-5 cm) (in it's narrowest dimension) might require a skin graft. Grafting is after a granulation bed has grown which might be weeks down the road. Circumferential wounds around a limb can cause sloughing of the rest of the skin downstream on that limb. Circumferential burns have lead to amputations particularly when there are other injuries as well so the body can stabilize enough to heal. I'm pretty sure that there is a "Burn Care for Dummies," and or "Burn Care for the House Officer,"out there.

I'm researching this same thing for my WIP, and my boyfriend is an EMT, so he's been pretty helpful with the random questions I throw at him when I'm in the middle of writing. I've only asked him the things I specifically need to know, because I'm so not the medically-inclined type, and don't want to see icky pictures to demonstrate any of this, but if you get stuck and need a quick answer to something, PM me. I'll probably either already have the answer, or I can bug hubby some more

range of motion would be pretty limitted, (based on the little info I've gathered) especially since, when healing, the skin will most likely constrict. Physical therapy would likely be needed. Over-exertion would therefore be something to advise against.

Depends on the medical care. I worked in a burn unit and also in a minor emergency clinic for smaller surface area burns. With consistent medical care it shouldn't have the opportunity to scab. The wound area gets debrided (basically scrubbed until the dead tissue is removed and healthy granular tissue is all that's left, sometimes to the point of bleeding), Silvadene (a topical cream for burns) is applied, and then gauze is used to loosely cover the area. A few days later, the person goes back in for a rinse and repeat procedure until the area is completely covered by a new epidermis. The wound should not be left alone or exposed to air long enough to scab.

Hope this helps.