Ways to Ease Sunburn Pain

When you notice that your skin has turned red or brown and not the nice tan color that you hope to achieve, you’re clearly sunburned. Perhaps, you didn’t realize that you’ve stayed in the sun for too long or that your skin is so sensitive that it burns easily.

If you know that you’re going to burn easily, do try to apply a sunscreen or sun block lotion at least half an hour before going out. You should have a warm shower and dry your skin thoroughly before applying the sun block as this would ensure that the lotion is absorbed into your skin.

Choose a sunscreen with a high sun protection factor (SPF). The higher the sun protection factor number, the more protection you’ll get.

You should also avoid going out in the sun between the hours of ten in the morning to two in the afternoon. This is the time when the ultraviolet rays which are the most damaging are the strongest.

However, in the event that you haven’t taken all the above precautions and you got severely sunburned or suspect that you may have skin poisoning, do consult a doctor. A doctor would be the best person to give you relief from sunburn and prescribe to you the medications and lotions to relieve the pain from sunburn.

If your sunburn isn’t that severe, there are many ways to ease sunburn pain that you can try.

First of all, you should be drinking a lot of fluids. As you’ve been out in the sun for quite awhile, you may have become dehydrated so drinking a lot of fluids especially clear plain water would prevent further dehydration.

For fast relief from sunburn pain, you can use cool compresses. You can do this by using a towel soaked in cool water and applying it to the affected area. If you want faster relief, you may soak yourself in a bath tub filled with cool water. Add baking soda to the bath water and you’ll feel instant relief. Do not use soap as this can dry up your skin and cause severe pain.

Do not apply butter or grease on the affected area as you would when you’re treating burns. These things would hold the heat in and would aggravate the pain. Instead you should use moisturizers that do not contain alcohol. It’s best to find moisturizers which contain aloe vera.

In the event that you develop blisters, do not pop the blisters as this would worsen your condition and would result in scarring. Just use moisturizing cream or lotion on the blisters to relief the pain.

Remember, when trying to get a tan, do it slowly. You won’t get a beautiful tan if you get sunburned. So take precautions when trying to get a tan so that you won’t have to suffer the embarrassment and the pain of getting sunburned instead.