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Abstract: Ranunculus arvensis is a wild growing plant, used traditionally for the treatment of various diseases. Very few chemical burn cases resulting from R arvensis are reported in the literature. We present a patient who applied the plant R arvensis externally to his left leg attempting to alleviate leg pain, and suffered chemical burns as a consequence. Treatment was started with paraffin-impregnated gauze dressings containing chlorhexidine. The patient’s lesions began to recover in 4–5 days, and resolved within 14 days.

Introduction

  Ranunculus arvensis L. (family Ranunculaceae) is a wild growing plant used traditionally in China and the Far East for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. All parts of this plant are recognized as toxic when fresh.¹ Also known as “wedding bloom” in Turkey, R arvensis grows wild mainly in the Southeastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions of the country.² The adverse effects of Ranunculus family are also related to the amount of time it is in contact with skin and the area of contact. Adverse effects manifest via three main mechanisms: irritant, phototoxic, and hypersensitivity reactions.^3–5 Very few chemical burn cases resulting from R arvensis are reported in literature. The following report presents a patient who applied R arvensis externally to his left leg to alleviate pain and suffered chemical burns as a consequence.

Case Report

  A 60-year-old man was admitted to the burn treatment center of the authors’ hospital with a diagnosis of a 20 cm x 10 cm second degree burn on the posterior surface of his left thigh (Figure 1). According to the patient, he had applied a plant, which grows in the region where he lives, to the painful area and then wrapped the area in cloth. He had left this in place for 5 hours, and upon unwrapping his leg, had observed fluid filled sacs in the area where the plant had been applied. He had gone to the hospital for treatment, and although the lesion was treated for 14 days, there had been little improvement. Upon physical examination of the patient, we established a 20 cm x 10 cm second degree burn injury on the posterior surface of the left thigh. The patient was evaluated by the dermatological clinic, and they also confirmed that the lesion was a burn injury. The hemogram and biochemical values of the patient were normal. Pseudomonas aeruginosa proliferated in the culture taken from the lesion. This proliferation was assessed by the Infectious Diseases clinic, and was evaluated as colonization as the lesion was clean and the laboratory values were normal. No antibiotics were started. During the time of his hospital stay, the patient’s injury was covered with paraffin-impregnated gauze dressings containing chlorhexidine in order to protect the wound from infection. Our hospital determined from samples that the plant that had caused the injury was R arvensis (Figure 2). The patient’s injury became 90% epithelized (Figure 3) after 11 days in the hospital and he was discharged.