A couple of questions about sun burns.
I was fly fishing this weekend and got burned pretty bad on my arms, chest and legs.
Here are my questions:
1). What is the best way to treat my burns?
2). Can I stop the skin from peeling and turn this burn into a tan?
MtM
tons and tons of cream, with aloe.
From healthcentral.com
FIRST AID:
Apply cool baths or cool compresses for 10 to 15 minutes several times a day. ,Baking soda in the water may help relieve the pain (small children may become easily chilled, so keep the water tepid).
Apply a soothing lotion to the skin.
Your physician may prescribe a steroid cream to treat severe sunburn.
An over-the-counter pain medication such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, for example) may be helpful (Note: aspirin should not be given to children).
Well, being a red-head, I’ve had my share of sun burns.
I usually get straight aloe gel - you can get it at any drugstore - put it in the fridge and apply it liberally. You probably wont prevent peeling totally, but you’ll make the burn feel better, faster.
The best way I’ve found to turn my burns to a tan and keep from peeling…and stop the pain (strange though it sounds) make a HUGE pot of tea…like 7 bags and pour into a bath tub and soak for a bit. The tannin acid in the tea soothes the burn…as a matter of fact it works for other burns as well from the stove or fire or anything.
I don’t trust aloe from drug stores. I have gotten the little tubes the store and it just doesn’t always seem to work the same as true aloe. Real aloe has more of a goo feeling than a jelly feeling, and has kind of a burning/tingling/cooling feeling that most of the bottles don’t. And it doesn’t heal the burn very well. One of my friends had a bottle that was the good stuff, but everytime I buy one of the 100% aloe gels it just doesn’t work. Maybe it has to do with variations in the species, or processing or something, but I will stick with my growing plant personally.
Vinegar will take the sting out. Doesn’t matter what kind. Just grab whatever’s handy, a few cotton balls and apply it as you would an astringent.
Tea is good too, as mentioned above. I never have tried it in the tub. I just wet down a tea bag or two and slap it right on the skin.
The best way to treat all sorts of burns is with cold. This somehow minimises damage to tissue.
IANAD but creams are non recommended for burns. Vitamin E may help.
Do an experiment - put vitamin e oil from a vit. ecapsule on one patch (be prepared to smell like a halibut) of sunburnt skin, aloe on another and leave a control.
Creams are not recommend for severe burns, but they’re OK for those that are just red (even bright red). The real key is whether or not the skin is broken. For standard sunburn, it’s not. Once you move up to blisters, though, forget the home remedies, don’t grease them up, and go to a doctor.
I had, no shit, third degree sunburn over most of my back and shoulders in 2001. It was so bad my boss sent me home for a week on disability. It was so bad my doctor actually thanked me for giving him something so extreme to treat.
He basically told me that for burns that bad aloe just softens the pain nad eases the new skin into its top dog role. Nothing will prevent the old skin from coming off but the aloe makes it easier.
He told me to keep hydrated (a LOT) and keep spraying myself down with aloe-laced over-the-counter anaesthetic.
Man, that was the worst. I mean skin peeling off in sheaves, layer after layer with drainage and leakage. And I couldn’t wear a shirt or allow anything to touch my back or shoulders. Couldn’t even take a shower with my back to the showerhead.
I had a sunburn much like Jonathan Chance’s, many years ago. I have virtually no pigment on my skin, and 8 hours of swimming off of South Padre Island on a cloudless day with only one application of sunscreen in the morning = severe burn. My arms, torso, neck, and face were all incredibly burned; the top layers of skin were basically floating on a layer of liquid. Anywhere I sat or lay would quickly become soaked with my lymphatic fluid. The peeling started about a week later; I don’t know how many layers of skin I lost. I couldn’t wear a shirt for a month, and the peeling didn’t stop until 2 (!) months later. Luckily, I was on summer break from school, so I could afford to lay around the house shirtless for a month and a half. Never went to a doctor, though in retrospect I probably should have.
To this day, I am heliophobic, and will not willingly expose myself to direct sunlight for more than a few minutes. I look forward to an exciting future of skin cancer.
Start growing a real aloe plant. They’re real easy to grow, with adequate sunlight, and they get huge. When you get a sunburn, break off part of the plant, split it, and rub the goo all over your skin. It’s very slimy, and feels wonderful, and if you use enough of it you won’t peel.