Soooooooo sunburned :(

[Food Lady]

OK, so I was stupid yesterday and went to the lake with no sunscreen. I am lobster-colored. It's very tender and warm to the touch. Outside of ibuprofen and lidocaine, is there anything I can do? Ouch.

[AdminAssistant]

When I have a bad burn, I use stuff that my Mom calls silvadine; I think it's a silver sulfide based cream. That works pretty well. It sounds like you are way past the, "Just put some aloe on it and it's good" phase.

[42_42_42]

Strange as it may sound, bathing your skin in vinegar, milk, or cool tea helps.

Soaking in a cool (not cold!) tub to help pull the heat out of your skin will also help. You want the water to be tepid or just barely cool, otherwise you might shock your system. Oatmeal in the water is soothing and hydrating. If it gets to the itchy stage, baking soda in the water helps.

Make sure you drink lots of fluids. When you're sunburned, you get dehydrated more easily. You should drink at least 16 oz every hour.

You could take naproxen-sodium (Aleve) instead of the ibuprofin. It's also and anti-inflammatory and is a bit stronger, so it might relieve the pain better.

And, it might go without saying, but I'm going to anyway, make sure you keep yourself covered up when you go outside! You don't want to redamage your skin while it heals.

[DeltaSierra]

You can also try noxema - the last time I had a bad burn, my Dr told me to use that as it takes away the pain and moisturizes the skin.

[Seshat]

If it blisters, go to a doctor - you've injured more than just the top layer of skin. Otherwise, treat as per any other burn. It IS a burn.

Suggestion: get some high SPF, sweat-wicking clothing. It's much easier to remember to wear your summer-resort-wear high SPF clothing than to remember to keep reapplying sunscreen.

It's not high-fashion yet in most places, but it's common in many parts of Australia now.

[TelephoneAngel]

plain yoghurt on it can help, cool from the fridge. It just looks a bit messy.

[Food Lady]

Thanks for replies, everyone. Our family has always done the vinegar thing, but Mom says it's no good unless you do it right away?

[Bella_Vixen]

Cool, damp tea bags might still work. Be careful, though--it stains.

[Greenday]

Aloe. It's THE best thing for sunburns. I used it for when I burnt myself with a high intensity UV lamp and despite permanently damaging the melanin on that part of my arm, it took the pain away quick.

[Jester]

It sounds like you are way past the, "Just put some aloe on it and it's good" phase.

There is no such thing.

Aloe can cool and heal at any point in the burn. We have a great shop that sells aloe-based products down here, and while our shop is too far for the OP to take advantage of, any decent drug store should have some sunburn relief products that make use of aloe.

From my rarely burning personal experience to conversations I have had with friends, coworkers, and tourists, I can tell you without equivocation that aloe is the best thing for a bad burn, or any burn at all.

[Caffienated_Caramel]

I've always used solorcaine to stop the burn (Been told ur skin can still burn even after you're out of the sun) and gel straight from the aloe vera plant to soothe it.

Assuming that you don't have an aloe vera plant in your house, I also agree using aloe products is a great alternative.

[Seshat]

A burn happens when excess heat is applied to any part of the body. Basically, the body part gets cooked!

You know how when you take a meal off the stovetop, out of the oven, or out of the microwave, it still keeps cooking for a while, because of the heat that it's got inside it?
That's what a burn does. Your body keeps cooking, because of the stored heat. First aid for a burn is about getting the heat out before it does more damage.

Immediately you're aware of the burn, try to draw the heat out of the burned body part. Cool-not-cold running water is good: keep the water going over it longer than you think, you want the burned area to lose ALL the excess heat.

DO NOT ICE A BURN. You can end up with a chilled surface and an overheated substrate, which I'm told can cause even worse damage to the stuff in the middle. I'm not sure of the exact mechanisms here, but my first aid instructors were firm on this topic. Cool water, not chilled water or ice.

If the burn is so bad that skin is actually peeling off (not like sunburn onion-skin peeling, but serious peeling), call emergency services, get the patient someplace safe while moving them as little as possible, and apply only what first aid the emergency operator suggests. Don't use running water in this case.
Fortunately, I've never seen sunburn this bad. Blistering is the worst I've seen in sunburn.


Long-term treatment is just supporting your body in the process of breaking down damaged cells for parts, and building new cells. Oh, and pain relief. It's too late to stop the damage - it's done.

(Severe burns cause damage to the skin's deeper levels, and there's tricks and techniques to ensuring they heal well that I don't know. Thus, the 'see a doctor' advice earlier. If it's blistering, it's severe enough to get checked at least by a pharmacist or nurse practitioner, preferably a doctor or a burns-specialist nurse.)

[Food Lady]

I did the vinegar last night and that took the heat out. There's no blistering, but peeling already in very small flakes. Pain is lessening with use of a Solarcaine-type product. I haven't had to take any ibuprofen at all today. So as it heals, my only problem now is a tan on my front and whiteness in the back, a la Ross Gellar.