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I like to take showers and baths hot enough to leave my skin pink when I come out. One of my friends has a much lower tolerance to hot water and has said that that soaking in hot water can damage the nerves. What I consider to be warmish is hot to her.

How hot does water need to be to damage the skin/nerves, temporarily or permanently? Does it vary significantly depending on the person?

Is there any real danger of accidentally having baths that are too hot?

Sklivvz
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AnnanFay
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1 Answers1

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This graph (PDF) shows how long it takes to scald (burn) someone's skin with water with time on the X axis and temperature on the Y axis. At 100°C scalding is instant. At 60°C it takes closer to five seconds. If you were being scalded you would know RIGHT AWAY. The University of Utah's burn center recommends that people with small children/elderly/people prone to seizures should turn down their water heaters to 50°C instead of the usual 70°C.

Nerve damage occurs with a third degree burn. A third degree burn involves the destruction of the epidermis and the dermis. The dermis contains hair follicles, nerves and other structures. At this point, the burn may not heal unless it receives medical attention. This type of burn also may requires skin grafts to heal properly.

What can happen when someone bathes (especially with soap) in water that is quite hot is that their skin can dry out. Hot water and soap can strip the skin of its natural protective oils. Dry, cracking skin can also be an entry point for germs.

Ultimately, assuming you aren't actually scalding yourself, the water temperature comes down to preference. Do just be aware, however, that you may need to use a moisturizer right after taking hot showers, especially in the winter.

nalgenegirl
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    For the sake of us metric people, could someone provide the temperatures also as centigrade? – Suma Aug 01 '11 at 06:06
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    So you know, metric units are expected on this site (and certainly using Farenheit without even saying so will earn you down votes) – Sklivvz Aug 01 '11 at 06:52
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    So sorry! Didn't realize. I will keep that in mind for the future :) – nalgenegirl Aug 01 '11 at 18:21
  • Thanks for the answer! :) Do you know if scalding water permanently damages nerves? – AnnanFay Aug 02 '11 at 21:36
  • @Annan I edited the answer to include the point at which nerves are damaged. A third degree burn will permanently damage nerves. Skin grafts are required for restoration of the dermis. – nalgenegirl Aug 03 '11 at 02:29
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    I don't think this answer in any way addresses prolonged exposure at pain tolerable temperatures – Andrey Mar 11 '16 at 19:27
  • "If you were being scalded you would know RIGHT AWAY." I dislike this kind of claim. It ignores natural human variation in pain tolerance. When I was a kid, I broke my arm in the presence of a nurse, who said that we know it isn't really broken, since if it were, I would be crying. Later, the x-ray showed a clean break. People react to pain and injury differently and subjective perception isn't always a reliable guide to these things. – Jayson Virissimo Aug 01 '16 at 17:50