RT Book, Section A1 Williams, Saralyn R. A1 Thurman, R. Jason A2 Knoop, Kevin J. A2 Stack, Lawrence B. A2 Storrow, Alan B. A2 Thurman, R. Jason SR Print(0) ID 1177128812 T1 Caustic Ingestion T2 The Atlas of Emergency Medicine, 5e YR 2021 FD 2021 PB McGraw-Hill PP New York, NY SN 9781260134940 LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1177128812 RD 2021/01/16 AB Caustics are a diverse group of household and industrial products and pharmaceutical agents that cause functional and histologic tissue damage through direct contact. They represent the 2nd most common toxic exposure for children 5 years of age or under. These agents are frequently described in terms of pH, with acids typically having a pH less than 3 and alkali (bases) typically having a pH greater than 11. Despite a near-physiologic pH, phenol may produce severe burns due to a high titratable acid reserve.