India, Nov. 7 -- Diwali fills homes with light, family and noise. However, if you are not careful, it can lead you to emergency rooms with burns, mostly to the hands, face and eyes. Most people know crackers can hurt. Far fewer know what to do in the first few minutes after, and that is when a family's old habits tend to take over.

In a hurry, people reach for toothpaste, ice, oil, ghee, and turmeric, but none of them helps. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Anupam Golash, consultant, plastic reconstructive surgery at CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI, Kolkata, shared common mistakes to avoid in case of cracker burns.

According to Dr Golash, toothpaste feels cool, so people assume it must be working. It was never made for burns. The chemical...