This blog contains information about Sunburn. In the start, it defines and explains the sunburn and its introduction. It then tells us the Science behind Sunburns. Then it discusses the Types, Causes and Symptoms of Sunburn. It also elaborates the Treatment of Sunburn in detail. Then it explains the Prevention of Sunburn. In the end, it mentions the Long-term effects of Sunburn. This blog contains Causes, Types, Symptoms, Treatment, Prevention and Long-term Effects of Sunburn.
Definition of Sunburn:
Sunburn is the red and painful damaged part of the skin that occurs when your skin gets exposed to UV radiations of the sun for a longer period. This can be dangerous enough to cause skin aging and skin cancer.
When you go out on a sunny day for a beach day or any place that have the sun exposed to the skin directly for a complete day. This may make your skin red and later it can be cause very severe symptoms and it completely damages the upper layer of the skin and can also damage your scalp.
At first it is not a painful condition, it just seems like red rashes on your skin and they can be very itchy. But with some time it will turn painful and the damage on the skin becomes severe. You can get sunburn after a day long pool party under the sun. It can also make you tan for a long period of time.
The best way to avoid and be safe from sunburns is to apply sunscreen everyday to protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun. Or to cover your skin when going out and being exposed to the sun rays. Sunburn is common in young people. It can harm your face, lips, eyes, scalp etc.
Almost 50% to 75% of children younger than 18 gets sunburn each year. Sunburns can also occur in your daily routine doing your everyday activities such as during gardening, studying in the park, sitting at the pool side, going of field work etc. It can also cause peeling of the skin.
This blog contains complete information about Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and prevention of Sunburn.
What is Science behind Sunburn?
The science behind sunburn is very interesting. The main factor involved in sunburn is the dilation of blood vessels. As they are exposed to sun, the blood vessels dilate to increase the blood flow so as this is the response of the body to bring immune cells to the skin to help clean up the mess from internal body. This results in redness, inflammation, and swelling on the skin apparently. This can be healed naturally but some cells may have mutations because they escape repair at some extent.
Types, Causes and Symptoms of Sunburn:
As we all know the sunburn is caused by UV radiations. The sunburns may be of three types First-degree Sunburn, Second-degree Sunburn and Third-degree Sunburn. The detail about them are as follows:
First-degree Sunburn:
This kind of sunburn leads to the damage of outer layer of the skin only and so do not reach the inner layer to cause more severe damage. The First-degree sunburn may heal naturally within days or a week.
Symptoms of First-degree Sunburn:
- Redness of skin
- Skin tightening
- Pain
- Swelling
- Peeling skin
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Headache
- Nausea etc.
Second-degree Sunburn:
In this sunburn, the middle layer of skin called dermis, is damaged. It is severe as compared to first-degree sunburn because its damage reach the inner layer. The skin may develop blisters and it may take weeks to heal with medical help.
Symptoms of Second-degree Sunburn:
- Extremely red skin
- Blisters
- White discoloration
- Swelling over larger area
- Skin looks wet
- Shivers
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Fever
- Muscle Cramps etc.
Third-degree Sunburn:
It is the most severe state of sunburn and it requires emergency treatment. This could damage all the layers of the skin and also damages the fats beneath the skin. It can also destroy nerve-endings. They mostly occur from a chemical burn or fire and not sun.
Symptoms of Third-degree Sunburn:
- The burn look like leathery in its appearance.
- Skin looks numb
- The skin color looks white and dull
- Heat illnesses symptoms.
Common Causes:
- Staying under the sun for too long
- Medications and Antibiotics can also make you weak against sunburns
- High intensity of UV radiations
- Being in the sunlight on the locations where this is ozone depletion or ozone hole
- Skin type and color
- Taking sun bath without applying sunscreen
These are the Causes and Symptoms of all types Sunburns. This blog contains Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention of Sunburn.
Treatment of Sunburn:
Following are the common treatments of Sunburns:
Covering the burnt skin:
The skin may accelerate healing by covering it from a soft and cool clothes because it will cast a cooling effect on the region of sunburn. This technique also helps you feel good during pain.
Use Cooling Gels:
The application of cooling and hydrating gels will help as healing ointments for the sunburn as the only thing sunburns need is colling effect so you can use Aloe vera gel for the treatment of sunburns.
Taking a Cool Shower:
You can take a cool shower for feeling relaxation in your pain and it can help you reduce or eliminate the pain for few hours so this can even help the patients of Third-degree sunburn to relax for sometime.
Drinking lots of Water:
You should not be dehydrated when you have sunburns. Because dehydration leads to heating and dryness into the body. The patient should drink plenty of water to keep the body hydrated.
Taking NSAIDs:
NSAIDs stands for Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs so these drugs are used for pain relief. These can be used in any health condition which contains pain in it. They are effective for sunburn too.
Do not pop the blisters:
If you get blisters due to sunburn, they cause itching and some patient wants to pop him. But in case of sunburn popping of blisters is not suitable. They can cause more pain and damage in this condition.
These are the treatments that can be applied on sunburn in order to heal them. Although it heals naturally with passing time but these remedies will help you survive the sunburn and reduce the pain and symptoms of sunburn. This blog contains Causes, Symptoms, Types, Treatment and Prevention of Sunburn.
How to Prevent Sunburn?
Following are some preventive measures for Sunburn:
- Use broad spectrum sunscreens to avoid the damage of UVA (95% of the UV radiations, penetrates into the skin) and UVB (invisible radiations from the sun, main cause of sunburn).
- Apply the sunscreen after every 90 minutes when you are under the sun for a long day.
- Avoid taking a sun bath or using a tanning bed.
- Be careful with the medications you take, and be aware if they makes your skin more photosensitive. This may increase the risks of sunburn.
- Wear long-sleeves and covered clothes when going at a beach, at park or any open area to avoid tanning and sunburn.
- There should be annual check-up of skin from a Dermatologist to know about your skin’s health.
- In the day time, prefer sunglasses to protect your eyes from sun rays and avoid any sunburn in the facial region. Sunglasses can be effective in this case.
- You can also use a hat to cover your face, so that sunlight will not reach the skin and protect it against sunburns.
These are few preventive measures of Sunburn.
Long-term Effects of Sunburn:
Following are some long-term effects of Sunburn:
Premature Skin Aging:
Sunburn may cause the aging of the young skin so this may lead to formation of wrinkles on your face, arms, feet and other exposed areas. This can be painful and disturbing to see your skin becoming older day by day.
Skin Cancer:
Another long-term effect of Sunburn, is skin cancer. As the sun rays react with layers of the skin and third-degree sunburns may lead to permanent damage to the skin that can turn into skin cancer later on. This is the most severe condition.
Rough Skin:
After the severe sunburn, the skin may become rough permanently with a scaly texture. This may look very unpleasant and the patient may feel very bad about his skin. This is really embarrassing for the patient and also incurable to some extent.
Cataract Formation:
Cataracts means the formation of cloudy areas in your eyes so this can be a long-term effect of sunburn, as eyes are our most sensitive organ that are exposed to the sun. This can make your vision blurry and the person feels pain and also the disturbance in eyes.
These are some of the Long-term effects of Sunburn.
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