How to Treat Sunburns

Question: Is sunburn dangerous? Mona Khanna: Well, in the summer time it's very easy for people to become sunburn because they spend a lot of time in the sun. I mean there are some people with skin sensitivities to the -- even going in and out of their car, even going in and out of their office building, they are putting themselves at risk you know and that's why we recommend that everybody wear sunscreen and sunblock all the time particularly in the summer. The risks of sun burn really are, pain, I mean it's mostly discomfort. You have you are sunburned you basically burn the top layer of your skin and it's a very painful condition if the skin is violated in any way that means cut opened, there is an abrasion you also run the risk of an infection because your skin has been compromised. Its already in a weakened stage and here you are you know weakening an even further so infection is more likely of a possibility in that situation but really the issue with sunburns is it's painful, its damaging to the skin and in the case of children and this is very important because this is relatively new information that we know. We know that the number of sunburns a child has before the age of eight is directly related to whether or not that child will develop skin cancer as an adult. So those are all real good reason about why you want to avoid sunburn as much as possible. How can sunburn be avoided? Mona Khanna: It's fairly easy to avoid sunburn while its relatively difficult to avoid the sun and it seems contradictory but especially in the summer time we are in the sun all the time, even if you are not on vacation or out of the beach you have to go outside to get in to your car, to spend sometime outside your home, to go to work so it's really, really important to wear sunblock or sunscreen. Now unless you are going to be out of the sun for a long period of time, a sun protection factor of 25 is usually good enough to wear on your face, your neck and any other sun exposed areas whether its your hand, your forearms if you are going to be out in the sun if you are -- if you are on vacation on the beach then try to use the sun protection factor of at least 35 and what you want to do is make sure that you repeat it and apply it more than once if you are going to be sweating it of which of course being out in the sun for long periods of time we are all going to do. The other thing to do is you can wear a hat, which will protect your face and your neck and hopefully it has a wide brim because -- your ears too and that's another place when you are putting sunblock on to make sure you hid your ears as much as you can cover your body that actually provides a layer of protection between you and the sun. So, that's important too but you know a lot of people think what's the point of going out in the sun if I have to cover my body just remember it that it is one way of protecting yourself. How can sunburn be treated? Mona Khanna: Well, sunburn could be an early indication of very, very serious illness like heat stroke and heat exhaustion where you really start to get disoriented, have mental status changes and need to go to the hospital. So, it's important to remember that those are all triggers and warning signs that something more serious is going on but if its just sunburn if you are red as a bee, you are red as a lobster I should say and you don't have any those other warning signs that might indicate you are dehydrated or that there is something else more complicated going on in your body then the most important thing to do of course is get out of the sun, you can take an anti-inflammatory medicine acetaminophen or Tylenol is great for discomfort but it really doesn't do anything for the inflammation. So, you have to look for targeted medicines that help decrease the inflammation and that's the category called ibuprofen. You can buy either generic ibuprofen or the brand names are Advil and Motrin and any other anti-inflammatory medicines like Aleve, Naprosyn. You want to make sure you avoid infections, so after your if you have a sunburn you want to make sure not to compromise your skin in any other way, cuts, abrasions anything like that because it is already compromised with the sunburn you don't want to raise your risk level of getting an infection. Aloe vera and Aloe vera is a substance that is made from a plant. It's not only very cooling and very soothing to the skin, it actually has healing properties. So, go ahead if you have any aloe vera cream or aloe vera gel put that on you as well. A quick and easy and cheap way of cooling yourself is cool shower, cool bath and immerse yourself in the water just the goal is bring your body temperature down and decrease the inflammation process and you can do that with all of these things.