It’s a trip how you can see how all that you see in that picture was underneath a layer of peeling already. you can see the line on my calf where I had peeled up to. OK, this is all kinda gross, no? My apologies to all who are grossed out.
The worst sunburn I’ve ever had was on my ears. I was working outside helping with parking and cleanup at a big event all day. I put sun screen on my nose, face, shoulders, etc, but forgot my ears. My ears were later covered with rather painful and uncomfortable blisters for a few days, and took about a week and a half to return to a point where I could lay on them again. To this day (7+ years later), the skin on one of my ears tends to peel off for no reason.
Yeah, but now you’ve got the Lobes for business… 
Yikes! Um, get better soon? I’ve never had one that bad, and I’m a redhead who grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Only once in the past decade have I had a sunburn that peeled, and I didn’t notice so much since I was also dealing with a nasty case of heat exhaustion (heat stroke? I was all whirly and the world got kind of flat. A summer job neglected to tell me that their “icebreaker” first day would be outside, and basically harassed me when I tried to bow out after getting too hot. They did it to the 6mo. pregnant lady, too) at the time.
Times like that, I start wishing that those infamous scientists who magnetically levitated a frog once would get cracking on the human-size version. Then I could sleep without either itching or hurting.
Happened to me, too. When I went to Australia in 1991, I was very careful about applying sunscreen. Except I forgot all about my ears. I had just gone from very long hair to very short hair, and it never even occured to me to put sunscreen there.
I get sun poisoning easily, so I make sure to use lotion with the same basic SPF as latex paint.
Chile 1998, some arid region near Santiago. Two days walking around outdoors, socks tan line lasted 4 years.
Enough said.
Oh man, I did a bodypainting event one summer where they watered down acrylic paint a bit to stretch it to cover more than 300 people. I got painted blue (which, just so’s you know, stains your skin for about a week, unlike the other colors) and then my friend took her finger and made swirly patterns in the paint.
…only, we’d entirely forgotten the need for sunscreen. The paint blocked the sun pretty well, but I had a swirly shaped sunburn-turned-tan that didn’t fade entirely, I shit you not, for over five months. I had to buy a new *Christmas *dress so my mother in law wouldn’t see the swirls on my décolletage! :eek:
My worst happened when I was 19. I was working on a dairy farm/dog kennel. I spent 8 hours a day for two weeks, outside cleaning the dog runs, shoveling cow shit and feeding the animals. I wore sunblock which I reapplied every 2 hours. I wore long pants, a longsleeved white shirt, a wide brimmed farmers hat and sunglasses. In spite of all that, I ended up with an epic sunburn of my own, everywhere from the waist up. One day I was my normal glow in the dark white (yes I am a redhead). The next day, I was glow in the dark red.
I was bedridden for two weeks. It started peeling immediately and the peeling lasted months. The tan (the first I’ve ever had) lasted until February (I got this sunburn the first week of June). I had a fever with chills for over a week.
About a year later, while in first aid training, I showed our trainer some pictures of my burn. She said it looked like second degree burns to her.
Your sunburn after 8 days looks at least 10 times worse than mine did at any point.
You are ALL wimps.
Not the only time or the worst by any means, just the most visually amusing:
After a weekend of fun (and I always had on SPF30), I was home, feeling out-of-it from what I thought was just a prolonged hangover; then I noticed that MY ENTIRE LEGS were ONE BIG pus-filled-ecsapee-from-the-active-core-of-a-nuclear-reactor-meltdown. In fact, my WHOLE BODY was like that.
Of course I freaked. In my panic, one of the mega-blisters got broken…and it didn’t feel right. After “experimentation,” I discovered that the “pus,” was in fact, saltwater. Caps coming:
MY ENTIRE EPIDERMIS HAD BURNED AND DIED IN ONE PIECE AND SEPARATED, preserving summer sweat in vast bubbles underneath. The only thing that would save me from a prolonged trip to the hospital was KEEPING THOSE BUBBLES INTACT.
So there.
You think you’re safe because you have dark skin? A former boss of mine, who was (and probably still is) black, went to Cozumel for a week and came back RED. He had never been sunburned before and hadn’t worn any sunblock. BIG mistake.
I don’t have any sunburn pictures, but in case I want to remember my many, many epic sunburns from the past, all I have to do is look at the now permanent swimsuit lines I have on my shoulders and upper chest. And I DO wear sunblock. Stupid Irish ancestors.
I’m another person who wears sunscreen with the same SPF as latex paint. I learned my lesson in high school when I was at band camp and wore a swimsuit under my shorts because it was so bloody hot and we were going swimming right after the AM session. I got burned not quite as bad as some of you, but the burn and the subsequent lecture from the doctor and my dad about skin cancer was enough for me.
One time, at band camp…
I’m sorry, but that is not just peeling. I’ve had peeling sunburns before, and they goddamned sure never looked like that. That is serious second-degree burn action. If you get that all the time, EmAnJ, you are suffering some very serious skin damage which you are going to seriously regret someday.
signed,
S&I, who is not a dermatologist, but knows a severe burn when he sees one.
Oh, my mom’s gotten herself burned before, so it’s not like I think I’m completely immune or anything. But the combination of relatively dark skin and the fact that I start to get remarkably uncomfortable as soon as the temps get over 75 degrees (yeah, I’m not sure why I live in LA either) has kept me pretty burn free for all of my 32 years. The only reason I’m even aware of the existence of sunscreen is because I’m surrounded by people who need it.
I once lived in a trailer park where my next door neighbor was a real jerk - always beating girlfriends up, selling drugs, police being called to his home, etc.
One morning I saw he was dead drunk and sleeping on a lounge chair in the yard. Sun came up, brilliant blue-sky day, and he was nice and red well before lunchtime, but asleep he stayed. By midafternoon he was odd colors. By late afternoon he looked like a crustacean.
But the most amazing thing was that around sundown, he turned fuzzy all over. Like he had a half-inch thick layer of gray cloud all over him.
It turns out that mosquitos are especially attracted to sunburned flesh if the owner doesn’t move. And for all I know he might actually have lost a little weight this way.
He woke up when it started getting a little chilly, I guess, with whatever hangover you get from being drunk enough to sleep through ten hours of sunburn, plus whatever sunburn you can get in ten hours, plus a couple square meters of mosquito bites to try scratching.
I’ve had two notably bad burns. The first was on my extended bike trip - the one place I forgot to slather in SPF 50 was my ears. The next day the entire upper portion of my ear peeled off - in one crusty chunk! :eek:
The other was when I went out on a boat and didn’t bring any additional sunscreen. I had put some on that morning but by the afternoon it was clear that I had made a terrible miscalculation. I wrapped my self in towels but on a boat there is literally nowhere to hide. That night I had the shivers, couldn’t even stand sheets on the bed, and felt totally delerious. The next day I had huge blisters across my chest, belly and legs. When I took a shower, some of the blisters popped at the top from the water pressure and then filled with water from the shower! It was disgusting. I was bedridden for a couple days.
Ever since then I am a freak about protecting myself from sunburn. On my honeymoon in Hawaii I looked like a terrorist on the beach swathed in scarves and towels. I made my husband sit under the trees instead of on the sandy beaches. I carry an umbrella in my purse year round and have used it on perfectly sunny days. I’d prefer not to die of skin cancer if at all possible.
You saw this one, right? It’s even worse-looking. Be warned, it is a bit gross-looking.
My roomies wanted me to go to the hospital, but I don’t have the money for that crap. I’m still smarting from the $6,000 (yes, SIX THOUSAND) it cost when I had a kidney stone mess me up one morning.
sorry, here’s the link:
[QUOTE
Ever since then I am a freak about protecting myself from sunburn. On my honeymoon in Hawaii I looked like a terrorist on the beach swathed in scarves and towels. I made my husband sit under the trees instead of on the sandy beaches. I carry an umbrella in my purse year round and have used it on perfectly sunny days. I’d prefer not to die of skin cancer if at all possible.[/QUOTE]
this is why iceland is a wonderful vacation spot!