Review, impact, and future of severe and extra-severe burn treatment in China

China began using the colored liquid from tea and tincture to treat burns as early as the sixth century B.C., and records of Chinese medicine for the rescue and treatment of burns date from the Jin Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Modern burn treatment medicine in China began in 1958 when national steel production began. Since then, burn patients have increased dramatically, independent burn departments have been established nationwide, and burn surgery has moved into technological development. With the combined efforts of several generations of burn medical workers in China, the clinical treatment of severe and extra-severe burns has steadily increased. Many fields, such as burn shock prevention and treatment, wound repair, and sepsis, have become world leaders in the 21st century, forming a treatment technology and theoretical system with distinctive Chinese characteristics. Burn medical professionals have conducted numerous clinical and fundamental experimental studies, founded the Burns Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, established academic journals, and successfully established China Burn Treatment Program. The advancement of science and technology has promoted the development of modern medicine, and 3D virtual reality technology, 3D printing technology, organoid culture, and tissue engineering skin have demonstrated potential advantages and excellent application prospects in the treatment of severe burns, providing new ideas and directions for the discipline’s development. In the new journey of development and reform, we should continue to strengthen the systematic construction of the discipline, enhance the innovative treatment capability, and create further triumph.