Dr. Mitch Amish Discusses How Virtual Reality Takes the Sting Out of Burns.

Virtual reality has been used for everything from phantom limb pain, to post-traumatic stress disorder, to phobia of public speaking, and even as training for surgeons of laparoscopic surgeries. So, why not give it a try to help ease the pain for burn victims?

Hunter Hoffman, director of the Virtual Reality Analgesia Research Center for the University of Washington, has been part of designing a virtual reality (VR) game for just this cause. "Snow World" is a VR simulation of a frozen world where patients can lose themselves in a cool atmosphere, allowing them to forget their pain.

Patients tell me that it is so hard to sit through wound care because they sometimes feel like they are reliving their original burn experience. Now "Snow World" can help ease the pain.

Pain perception has a strong psychological component. The same incoming pain signal can be interpreted as painful or not, depending on what the patient is thinking. This is because pain requires conscious attention. The essence of VR is the illusion that you are going inside the computer-generated environment, and being drawn into another world diverts a lot of your attention. This diversion leaves you with less attention to give to pain.

Put in simpler terms, when burn victims put on a VR helmet and get involved in playing "Snow World," they lose sight of nurses, equipment and all of the other pain inducing sights and sounds. Instead, they are immersed in an Arctic world. This world is just like being a kid on a snowy day; you can lob virtual snowballs at penguins or snowmen while speeding through turns in a canyon of ice. Now, that is cool.

This VR world is really helpful for pediatric burn victims because these youngsters need some form of non-medical pain control. The methods commonly used for adult victims, such as morphine or artificially-induced comas, are too risky for use in children. "Snow World" provides a safe and fun alternative.

After much research, it was clear that pain requires sustained attention from our brains. Hoffman told me that he figured a distraction might help ease that pain. And, that's the simple theory behind "Snow World." I think this VR is the perfect way to put the fire out for burn victims.