[Burn injuries: what have we learned from history].

Severe burn injuries present a significant public health risk and are often associated with a life-threatening systemic inflammatory response. With the traditional approach, patients often stay in hospital longer and are more prone to problems like joint contractures, hypertrophic scars and infections due to delayed healing. The approach to burn injuries has been improving through and has been adopting new technologies and materials. Today, burn injuries are treated by general practitioners and surgeons. Unfortunately, this does not always ensure faster healing improvement of the quality of life.