# What is the liquid coming from under my peeling skin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620 "2009-06-13T00:17:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mordwynd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mordwynd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mordwynd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/1 "2009-06-13T00:17:17Z")
I was sunburnt and now my skin is peeling and there is liquid coming out. What is it? ---
**Author:** ![gustp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gustp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gustp)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/2 "2009-06-13T00:57:48Z")
> [@Mordwynd](#): > > I was sunburnt and now my skin is peeling and there is liquid coming out. What is it? Same thing as the fluis in a blister. Lymphatic fluid. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/3 "2009-06-13T01:44:34Z")
Ya, you got 2nd degree sunburn - very painful, I’m sure. It’s blisterjuice. ---
**Author:** ![Mordwynd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mordwynd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mordwynd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/4 "2009-06-13T02:09:11Z")
That’s kinda what I was thinking. It’s not really too painful though, it does feel really tight thought, and it’s kind of hard to move. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/5 "2009-06-13T03:02:06Z")
Keep it clean, keep it covered, and if there is _any_ sign of infection see a doctor! Also, extra fluids, especially water you are, after all, leaking fluid. ---
**Author:** ![Notassmartasithought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c0e974/32.png) [@Notassmartasithought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notassmartasithought)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/6 "2009-06-13T05:09:10Z")
It’s your vital fluids! Run, don’t walk, to your local vital fluids replenishment center. I’d suggest, this time of year, something with Springtime fruit, perhaps a strawberry daiqueri. Or a beer. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/7 "2009-06-13T05:19:06Z")
mmm… blisterjuice. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/8 "2009-06-13T05:39:01Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > mmm.. blisterjuice. Don’t say that three time, or it might come and squirt you![/cheesy\_reference] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/9 "2009-06-13T06:31:49Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Ya, you got 2nd degree sunburn - very painful, I’m sure. It’s blisterjuice. New name for an energy drink!!! ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/10 "2009-06-13T07:08:55Z")
Been there, done that - sun poisoning. Follow **Broomstick** ’s advice. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/11 "2009-06-13T08:28:40Z")
I am sporting a nice assortment of blisters from frying chicken fried steak. Next time, I WILL take the time to put something over my nekkid skin. I am past the blisterjuice stage, and am now at the stage where the dead skin almost peels off by itself. I am having a very difficult time not picking at it. From now on, I will refer to my lymphatic fluids as blisterjuice, whether they’re in a blister or not. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/12 "2009-06-13T08:45:38Z")
Oh no, you’re losing your precious bodily fluids! You must replenish them! Or, what Broomstick said. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/13 "2009-06-13T09:30:39Z")
> [@horsetech](#): > > Oh no, you’re losing your precious bodily fluids! You must replenish them! That’s why I only drink rainwater and pure grain alcohol. Purity of Essence ---
**Author:** ![gustp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gustp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gustp)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/14 "2009-06-13T18:05:53Z")
> [@SaintCad](#): > > That’s why I only drink rainwater and pure grain alcohol. Purity of Essence Did you get that idea from “Dr. Strangelove”? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/15 "2009-06-14T03:28:22Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > New name for an energy drink!!! There is a product called [Toe Juice](http://www.toejuice.com), but it isn’t an energy drink, or any drink for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-liquid-coming-from-under-my-peeling-skin/499620/16 "2009-06-14T03:40:47Z")
> [@gustp](#): > > Same thing as the fluis in a blister. Lymphatic fluid. No, it’s not, unless there was far more tissue damage than a normal sunburn would indicate. Lymph is fluid in the lymph nodes and vessels. The liquid under a blister or burn is called _serum_. What is serum made of? Lots of dead white blood cells that came to check for and fight off infection, lots of dead cell bits and cytoplasm from the skin cells you killed with your burn. Antibodies and other cell repairing or microbe destroying proteins. Some stuff called granules, which certain white blood cells spit out whenever there’s an inflammatory processes going on. Finally, “fluid”, that is, mostly water with some solutes in it, that leaked out of your blood through your dilated capillaries when your body was trying to fix the burn.