Summertime means fun under the sun, but it’s essential to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays. Unfortunately, even when you take precautions, sometimes you can still get sunburned.
Sunburn can feel terrible and uncomfortable leaving your skin red, sore, and itchy. Here’s how to treat sunburn quickly so you can feel relief and heal faster.
1. Take a Cool Shower or Bath
As soon as you realize that your skin is starting to burn, head indoors and take a shower or bath with cool water. Avoid using hot water as the heat can cause more damage to already damaged skin.
Cool water helps to bring down the skin’s temperature, halt the progression of your sunburn, and ease the inflammation.
2. Apply Aloe Vera Gel
One of the most popular and natural remedies for sunburn is aloe vera. The gel from the aloe vera plant has cooling properties, which provide relief to irritated and inflamed skin.
Aloe vera also helps to reduce skin peeling and redness caused by sunburn.
3. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
When you get sunburn, your body loses a lot of fluids that need to be replaced to help heal the damaged skin.
Drinking plenty of water and consuming fluids like sports drinks that are high in electrolytes can help rehydrate your body and keep it from getting dehydrated.
4. Avoid Tight Clothing
When you have sunburn, the skin becomes tender, and swelling or inflammation may occur. It’s essential to wear loose-fitting clothes that help avoid further irritation of the affected area.
Tight clothes can create irritation, and it may also make sunburn more severe.
5. Take Over-The-Counter Pain Relief Medications
If sunburn is painful or causing discomfort, taking over-the-counter pain relief medications like aspirin or ibuprofen can help. They will not only help to manage the pain but also bring down the inflammation and redness of the burned skin.
Be sure to follow the recommended dosage and speak with a healthcare professional if necessary.
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6. Use a Cold Compress
If the sunburn is causing severe pain, use a cold compress to numb the area and reduce swelling. Apply a cold, damp cloth wrapped around an ice pack to the affected skin, or you can take a cold bath.
Don’t use ice directly on the skin, and limit applications to 20 minutes at a time to avoid further damage.
7. Keep Hydrating
Sunburn can lead to dehydration of the body, so keep drinking fluids like water, tea, and juice. When you’re dehydrated, the blood vessels constrict, causing the skin to become all the more red, tender, and painful.
It’s essential to keep your body adequately hydrated to help minimize these symptoms.
8. Keep The Skin Covered
When you have sunburn, wear loose clothing and cover the affected areas of your body. This will protect them from the sun’s harmful rays and speed up the healing process.
Sunburned skin should also be kept well-moisturized, so use a gentle, unscented moisturizer to prevent dryness and skin peeling.
9. Avoid The Sun
As your body heals from sunburn, avoid exposing the skin to the sun to prevent a recurrence of the burn.
Seek shade or stay indoors during peak hours (10 am to 3 pm), and wear protective clothing like hats, long-sleeved shirts, and sunglasses when you must be outdoors. Make sure to use sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30, and reapply it every two hours to any unburnt skin for complete protection.”.
10. Seek Medical Care If Necessary
Most sunburns heal on their own with time and home care measures. However, in some cases, sunburn can be severe, and you may need to seek medical attention.
If you develop blisters, have a severe headache or fever, or suffer from signs of shock like nausea or vomiting, it’s essential to seek medical care immediately.
Conclusion
Prevention is the best treatment when it comes to sunburn, so it’s important to apply sunscreen, wear protective clothing, stay in the shade, and avoid peak sun hours.
If you do get sunburnt, the above steps can help you feel relief and heal faster. Treating sunburn requires nourishing and soothing the skin, staying hydrated, and keeping it safe from further damage and irritation. With proper care, your skin can return to its healthy self in no time.”.
