It’s that time of the year where everyone goes down to the
coast. You are all packed up and ready to go! But I’m pretty sure you have not
taken care of one thing – how will you prevent sunburn? If you have had sunburn
before, you know that this can seriously ruin your holiday. You want to send it
swimming and running around the beach, not itching and peeling of your skin in
the shade.
Sunburn is caused by excess UV Rays hitting your unprotected
skin. Unprotected skin means naked skin – exposed to the sun without any
protection such as clothing or sunscreen. When your skin is exposed for too
long, it gets burnt and irritated. Skin damage is caused by excessive exposure
to UVA and UVB rays that penetrate your skin altering your DNA which makes your
skin age faster and are thought to be the primary cause of non-malignant skin
tumors.
Sunburnt skin is very sensitive to touch, sometimes painful
and can develop into blisters. In more severe cases, nausea, fever and chills
occur. A few days later, your skin will begin to peel and itch in an attempt to
rid itself of the sun damaged cells. Sunburn can occur in less than 15mins and
the effect on the skin may not be visible at first. It may turn sensitive after
sometime and begin to hurt a couple of hours after that. Continued exposure to
sunlight is known to have a significant effect on hastening ageing of the skin
ageing process. It is therefore advisable to avoid exposure between the hours
of 10 am to 4 pm to minimize the risk. This is difficult as these are the hours
we go around to do our business, thus you must wear protective clothing or wear
sunscreen with a high SPF that blocks the sun’s rays from penetrating the skin
and damaging it.
Research shows for effective results on using sunscreen,
application should be at least 10 – 15 minutes before exposure and re apply the
sunscreen 15mins after initial exposure. The more you swim, the more you should
re apply your sunscreen (water, white sand, concrete, snow and ice reflect the
sun’s rays and can cause sunburn so be careful as to where you sit or lie down,
even if under a shade).
Beta carotene and Lycopene are chemicals found in certain
fruits and vegetables like carrots and tomatoes respectively, and have shown to
have a positive effect by increasing the skins ability to resist the effects of
the UV light. Ketchup and tomato puree are also high in lycopene.
Vitamin E creams and Aloe
Vera creams have been shown to reduce the discomfort of sunburn and help
the affected deal with the burns. The peeling of the skin will occur, there is
nothing you can do to stop that.
Do not pull out the skin- remember that your
skin is already very sensitive from the burns and by pulling it out, you may
tear your skin, damaging it further and it will thus take longer to heal.
Drink a lot of water to aid your body build back its skin
faster and keep away from the sun till you heal.
