Tips to Treat and Prevent Sunburn By Brent McNutt At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

So, you fell asleep on the beach, mid-July, and baked in the sun for over 3 hours. You can’t sit, stand or lie down comfortably. Catching your image in a mirror and it’s a vision of cartoonish red. You’re nursing a serious case of sunburn. Now, your only option is to nurse your searing skin back to normal. Here are a few steps to treating and preventing sunburn to maintain healthy skin.

How bad is it? The first step in soothing red skin is to assess the level of damage. While any burned skin is damaged skin, burns occur in varying degrees. Is your skin hot to the touch and a pinkish or reddish hue? You may be experiencing only a mild burn that will likely respond to any at-home treatment. Has and blistering appeared? If your burn is serious you will likely find blisters appearing on the burned area. Headaches, nausea and chills may follow. If this is the case, seek medical attention as this will likely worsen without professional intervention.

Ease the burn. Time is the only thing that can heal sunburn completely. Damaged skin needs to be replaced by new, healthy skin that lies underneath. Waiting is the only thing that you can do at this point. However, certain treatment can take away most of the pain. If a doctor’s office visit was necessary, you’ll be prescribed Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). It will relieve swelling and pain with greater efficacy than that of an over the counter drug. Aspirin and cold compresses will help with inflammation for less serious cases.

Keep hydrated. Any exposure to hot temperatures causes the body to lose fluids from sweating. Sun burn elevates the temperature of skin and acts in the same way. Be sure to drink plenty of water so that you do not dehydrate and your body has enough fluid to carry out its usual activities.

Begin the healing process. Applying a low-dose hydrocortisone cream or lotion with aloe to the affected area can cut healing time dramatically. However, do not apply to broken or blistered skin as this may further irritate the area. Once your skin begins to peel, continue to apply moisturizing cream as this will help new skin stay healthy as well.

Know your skin type. Everyone under the sun is affected by its rays. Some feel the burn a bit more keenly than others. People with fair skin are more likely to burn whenever they step outside. The fairer the skin the less you should venture into the sun. Take an umbrella or hat to the beach so that you can enjoy the beach and keep your skin in tact. However, even those with darker skin can burn from time to time and some medication can increase the risks.

Tried and true. Too much of a good thing is never the case when it comes to applying sunscreen. The first application should go one 30 minutes before you walk out the door and reapply every two hours. It’s best to get a separate formula made for faces if you have the tendency to break out. Don’t be fooled by cloud cover, the sun is still up above and sunscreen is a necessity even then.

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