SUNBURN

Getting sunburned is a lot like doing your taxes. No one ever thinks about it until it’s too late – and by then your skin is nearly the color of a ripe tomato and feels like it’s on fire.

Sunburns are more than just painful. Research has shown that getting even one sunburn in your life can significantly increase your risk of cancer. In addition, long-term sun exposure causes the skin to lose its elasticity, making it look rougher and more wrinkled later on.

It can be hard to resist the lure of the sun. Even when you are trying to be cautious you could occasionally get a few more rays than you may have intended. To put out the fire fast, here’s what doctors say to do.

Give your skin a drink. One of the most effective healing secrets for sunburn is also one of the simplest: Take a cool shower or bath. Flooding your hot, burning skin with cool water will quickly turn down the temperature, stopping the burn before it does more damage.

Add some vinegar. Another way to soothe a sunburn is to add a cup of white vinegar to bath water. Vinegar baths are very soothing and will help relieve pain in a hurry. If you don’t have vinegar on hand, add a cup of baking soda to the water, or even a dozen or so drops of ‘essential oils,’ like chamomile or lavender (dharu).

Use a moisturizer. Spending time in the sun quickly robs the skin of its protective moisture, which is why sunburns are so painful. After bathing or showering, do your skin a favor and rub in a generous amount of moisturizer. This will help replace the moisture that the sun’s burning rays took out.

Put aloe to work. Another way to moisturize the skin and ease sunburn is to rub on a coating of gel from an aloe vera leaf. Studies have shown that aloe vera is very effective for helping burns heal more quickly. You can buy aloe vera lotions, but manydoctors believe that the natural gel from the plant works best. You can also buy pure gel from your local pharmacy.

Try a milk compress. Many people with sunburn have gotten quick relief by soaking a towel in milk and applying it to the burn for about half an hour. Milk contains a lot of natural fats, which will help soothe the burn. Just be sure to rinse your skin thoroughly when you’re done to remove the milk.
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WHEN TO SEE THE DOCTOR
When you’ve fallen asleep on the beach and your skin feels hot enough to fry
an egg, you may have more than a simple sunburn. Like any burn, some
sunburns can be extremely serious, damaging multiple layers of skin and even
burning tissue underneath. If you have a sunburn and are also having chills,
nausea, dizziness, or fever, you should see a doctor right away. You should
also see a doctor if your burn blisters or swells. It’s not common, but serious
sunburns may cause internal problems that should receive immediate medical
care.
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Stop the pain and swelling. Taking aspirin or ibuprofen will help stop the pain of sunburn from the inside out. These medications not only ease pain, they also help to reduce inflammation, which lets skin heal more quickly.

Put on protection. The fortunate thing about sunburn is that it’s almost always easy to prevent. When you’re going to be spending time outdoors, take a minute to rub on a sunscreen with an SPF (sun-protection factor) of fifteen or higher. You can even buy facial moisturizers that include sunscreen as one of the ingredients.