Sunburn is common and occurs when the skin is overexposed to UV rays. From the tingling of the skin in the early stage to the peeling and itching of the skin in the later stage of recovery, I believe that everyone who has suffered from sunburn can understand the trouble and discomfort caused by sunburn.
This article starts from the symptoms of sunburn, and teaches you how to deal with sunburn in the early, middle and late stages, help you recover quickly, and effectively relieve the discomfort caused by sunburn.
What are the symptoms of a sunburn?
For mild sunburn, symptoms such as redness and pain, blisters, mild headache and fever will appear on the skin. Usually, the symptoms will gradually appear 4 hours after sun exposure, and the pain will be most obvious between 6 hours and 2 days after sun exposure. Symptoms are most severe in about 2 to 3 days, and most sunburns usually recover gradually after 3 to 5 days.
Excessive exposure to the sun can lead to severe sunburn and the risk of dehydration, along with symptoms such as headache, nausea and vomiting, high fever, dizziness or chills.
How to deal with sunburn?
Most sunburns have no immediate health hazard, so after-sun care and treatment are focused on reducing symptoms and discomfort.
After a sunburn, the most important thing is to take care of the injured skin and avoid continued exposure or over-stimulation of the skin. If there are blisters on the sunburned area, avoid active puncture to avoid increasing the risk of infection and affecting healing. If the sunburn area is too large, or other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and high fever appear, it is recommended to seek medical attention immediately.
Early sunburn: Avoid continued sun exposure
If you notice that your skin is tingling and hot, or if you find yourself in the sun for too long, seek shelter as soon as possible so that the sun does not continue to hit your skin. You may experience a slight burning and tingling sensation at this point, which is a sign of an impending or mild sunburn, so you need to cool down your sunburned skin and avoid sun exposure. Here are 4 ways to soothe the early days of a sunburn:
- Avoid continued exposure: Avoid continuous sunlight exposure to the skin, it is best to wear a hat, sunglasses, long-sleeved clothing with ventilation and UV resistance, and try to hide in the shade. If sun exposure is unavoidable, reapply sunscreen immediately to prevent sunburn from getting worse.
- Rehydration: Sunburn can cause moisture from the skin to be carried to the surface of the body, causing water loss, so when you feel that you may have a sunburn or after a sunburn, drink plenty of water and an appropriate amount of sports drinks to replenish water and electrolytes.
- Cooling with cold water: Find a nearby water source as soon as possible to cool down with cold water, or take a cold shower or use a wet towel to cool down. In addition to taking away the heat energy of the skin after sun exposure, it can also reduce discomfort.
- Avoid irritating the skin: The skin is sensitive after sun exposure, so it is not advisable to take a shower for too long, and avoid using harsh soaps, or rubbing alcohol or Vaseline to cool down. These actions may cause dry skin and even irritation. To apply ice, avoid placing the ice directly on the sunburned skin, and use a towel or paper towel to avoid over-stimulation of the injured skin by the low temperature.
Intermediate sunburn: tingling occurs, rub aloe vera to relieve discomfort
About 6 hours after sunburn, the skin will start to feel severe tingling, accompanied by itching, which is also the most uncomfortable period of sunburn, which usually lasts for 2 to 3 days.
Many people are very curious about what kind of medicine should be rubbed on for sunburn to relieve itching and pain? Can Aloe vera speed up sunburn recovery? In fact, aloe vera can only relieve the symptoms of tingling and itching. The sunburned skin tissue needs to heal itself through the skin to recover. However, in the middle stage of sunburn, we can still prevent the skin from deteriorating by moisturizing and rubbing aloe vera. This in turn accelerates the healing state.
- Aloe Vera Pain Relief: Local cold compresses and after-sun products such as oatmeal gel or aloe vera can effectively relieve pain. Aloe vera increases skin blood flow, reduces bacterial load, inhibits inflammation, and accelerates wound healing. In addition, dermatologists also remind that when using aloe vera to treat sunburn, only the colorless mucus in the mesophyll can be used, and it is not suitable to add aloe vera green skin and yellow juice ingredients.
- Continue to rehydrate: After sunburn, you should drink plenty of water and continue to rehydrate. If the sunburn is more severe, you may need to take or inject electrolyte supplements to avoid dehydration caused by excessive sunburn.
- Moisturize as soon as possible after bathing: Apply moisturizing products such as mild lotion while the skin is still wet after bathing, and avoid skin care products or ointments that are too oily or containing mineral oil, because the ingredients of oil may lock the heat energy of the skin and cannot dissipate heat smoothly , which can make sunburns worse, so keep moisturizing sunburned or exfoliating skin for a few days after sunburn.
- Anti-inflammatory pain relievers: If the pain is unbearable, taking nonsteroidal pain relievers such as aspirin and acetaminophen can reduce the pain and inflammation of the sunburn area, but taking the medicine will not speed up recovery. In addition, under normal circumstances, oral steroids (Steroids) are not recommended. Applying ointments can also have pain relief, antipruritic or anti-inflammatory effects, such as ointments containing low-dose steroids, which can reduce swelling and burning. Before using this product, consult your doctor or pharmacist and use it as directed by your doctor.
- Keep ventilation: Before sunburn is fully recovered, try to wear loose, ventilated clothing. Clothes that are too tight or too close to your body can easily lead to sultry sweating, and sweat can irritate the sunburned skin. In addition to cooling and avoiding sweating, Loose-fitting clothing can also reduce friction between clothing and sunburned skin.
In the later stage of sunburn: do not tear the skin peeling, continue to protect the skin
In the later stage of sunburn, the skin will start to fall off. This is a manifestation of the body’s metabolism of dead cells, and it is also a sign that the sunburn is about to heal. However, it usually feels particularly itchy, and people have the urge to tear off the dead skin. The doctor reminds to let the sunburned skin fall off naturally, do not tear off the skin or exfoliate.
In addition, the peeling process and the newly recovered skin will be particularly sensitive, and the resistance to ultraviolet rays is also weak, so in addition to continuously moisturizing the skin, it is necessary to take sun protection measures, wear long-sleeved clothing, and use low-irritant sunscreen lotion , to avoid sunburn again, generally mild to moderate sunburn will fully recover in about 7 days.
Sun protection regardless of the season, long-term exposure to the sun may cause skin cancer
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, a global non-profit organization, although sunburn will recover, repeated sunburn will cause premature skin aging and increase the risk of skin cancer. The CDC of the Ministry of Health and Welfare reminds that the following three conditions are more important Pay special attention to sun protection:
- From 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, the sun is the strongest, try to avoid going out and stay in the shade as much as possible outdoors.
- Ultraviolet rays are strong in alpine areas, so you must pay attention to sun protection when engaging in mountaineering activities. In addition, the ultraviolet rays in summer are also stronger than in winter, and sun protection is also required for snow or beach water activities.
- Some drugs can increase the sensitivity of the skin to ultraviolet light, causing photosensitivity, such as some cardiovascular drugs (Thiazides, Amiodarone, Nifedipine for short), antibiotics (Doxycycline, Tetracycline, Sulfonamides for short), antifungal drugs (Voriconazole), Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, NSAID for short, diuretics (Acetazolamide, Furosemide), etc., usually imitated drugs will also indicate “photosensitivity” in the side effects. Those taking related drugs should pay special attention to sun protection measures.
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Be careful of UV sunburn and peeling, 4 ways to protect the skin
