What to do if burned in the sun: remedies for burn – folk and medicinal

Sunburn is an inflammation of the skin caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet light.

You can get sunburn not only by sunbathing on the beach but also by just being outside during the peak of solar activity. A sunburn is the same thermal injury to the skin as a burn from a hot object, so you should not ignore it and let the disease take its course.

Pharmacy preparations for sunburn

First aid for burned skin – moisturizing and pain relief. To do this, you can use synthetic means. Medicines based on:

• Hydrocortisone – relieves inflammation and itching from sunburn. The active substance is a hormone of the adrenal cortex,
• Analgesics and non-thyroid anti-inflammatory drugs – relieve pain and burns
• Panthenol – has regenerating properties, protects damaged skin with a protective film. Protects the integument from peeling and cracking.
• Paracetamol, aspirin – relieves pain and weakness.

Mild burns go away rather quickly and without consequences, but moderate and high severity burns can leave defects on the skin for a lifetime. In addition to skin damage, sunburn can provoke various skin diseases: solar urticaria, dermatitis, lupus erythematosus, or even skin cancer.

A person with fair skin can get sunburn in just 15-30 minutes. The first symptoms of sunburn appear two to six hours after the injury:

• Reddened, hot skin
• Pain and itching
• Blisters;
• Increased body temperature;
• Headache.

Noticing such changes on the skin, you need to immediately hide from the sun and provide first aid.

Sunburns range from mild to severe. There are 2 degrees of severity of such burns with characteristic features:

• Grade 1 – redness, slight tingling, mild pain.
• Grade 2 – severe redness, swelling, blisters, significant pain. Additional symptoms of a general nature – headache, chills, bouts of nausea.

First of all, you need to assess your condition and examine your skin. If the burns are not serious, there is no high temperature, and strong general malaise, then first aid will be provided independently at home.

So, first aid for sunburn consists in cooling, moisturizing, and nourishing the skin, with means that relieve unpleasant sensations:

• To relieve pain, apply a cooling compress (to do this, gently place sterile gauze soaked in cool water). Change the compress every 15-20 minutes. If the burns are not severe, you can take a cool shower.
• Be sure to moisturize the skin, otherwise, immediately after cooling, the skin will dry out and become even more inflamed.
• Use revitalizing creams or special ointments for burns.

• If blisters have formed, they should never be punctured.
• Do not use alcohol-based lotions.
• You can not smear the affected areas with non-intended means.
• Do not apply ice to the affected area.

Panthenol, beaten – moisturizes the skin and promotes rapid healing of damage.

Dexpanthenol – heals the skin, accelerates the process of cell regeneration, restores their natural metabolism.

Actovegin  – the constituent components increase energy metabolism and quickly eliminate inflammation and redness.

Zinc ointment – heals small cracks and irritations, relieves pain.

• Looking at the crimson shoulders in the mirror, scolding yourself for indiscretion, and being embarrassed to see a doctor, what folk remedies for sunburn do you remember first of all?

  Hot red skin, possibly with small blisters, itchy, swollen and painful – this is the typical picture of sunburn. First of all, such skin needs to be cooled and moisturized. What remedies for sunburn at home will be at hand and will cope with this task?

  Cool bath

  A simple, affordable and effective method, especially if you add half a packet of baking soda to the water.

  Sheets moistened with cold water. You need to change them, without any self-pity, as soon as they get warm. And 5 times in a row, at least.

  Then you can look for how to smear a sunburn at home.

  Take a look in the refrigerator

  • Maybe there is a jar of sauerkraut? Just put the leaves along with the juice on the burnt place, leave for a quarter of an hour. After an hour, repeat the procedure. Do not take the jar out of the refrigerator, let the cabbage be cold with each procedure.
  • Got some potatoes? Rub it on a fine grater. You can apply the resulting gruel to the inflamed areas, or you can squeeze out the juice, moisten gauze in it and apply the lotion to the burn site, changing it as it dries.
  • Cucumbers are another folk remedy for sunburn. They should be treated in the same way as with potatoes: grate and apply gruel or juice.
  • Watermelon or apricot pulp. It is applied to the burn site in the form of a puree, for about half an hour.

  All vegetables should be from the refrigerator, otherwise it will be possible to moisturize the skin, but cool and relieve pain – no.

  Sour cream

  Sour cream (remedy number 1 for sunburn, according to many) is probably kept chilled. Therefore, a thick, cold mass placed on the skin brings noticeable relief. 15 minutes. Then the sour cream is partially heated, partially dries up, forming a greasy film on the skin. The burning sensation and heat returns with a vengeance. If you decide to use sour cream, do not forget to wash it off after 10 minutes.

  Take a look at the box of dried herbs

  Excellent treatment of inflammation is chamomile, mint, calendula flowers, fireweed. Brew in the same way as for gargling, but cool thoroughly before use. Apply the compresses soaked in broth to the sore spot.

  Check grocery stocks

  Black or green tea, strongly brewed and well cooled, relieves pain well, the tanning effect will reduce subsequent flaking of the skin.

  A good anti-inflammatory, calming effect is provided by a decoction of oats. A glass of oats is poured with a liter of water and simmered for about 2 hours. The resulting jelly is cooled well, and then lubricated with damaged skin, or applied lotions, changing them as it dries. If there is no oats, but there are oatmeal, they are poured with cold water, insisted a little, wrapped in gauze and applied to the burn such a compress.

  Look at the windowsill

  Perhaps a not very decorative, but very useful plant grows there. For people with sunburn, home treatment with aloe juice gives a really good effect. The juice of fresh leaves not only perfectly cools and soothes the skin, but noticeably accelerates its recovery, reduces flaking.

  Whichever local treatment you choose, do not forget to drink more: evaporation from the surface of hot, inflamed skin is more intense. The best drink is plain water, but compotes, fruit drinks, fermented milk drinks are also suitable.

  If you get a sunburn, treatment with folk remedies will help you get through an unpleasant period. In a week, the body will cope with the main symptoms, pain and redness will disappear, and only peeling may remain. There is no need to rush to remove the remnants of burnt epidermis with scrubs or brushes: delicate skin is easily damaged and can become infected.

  Even if it seems to you that you are perfectly able to cope with sunburn, there are situations when you cannot do without the help of a doctor:

  Fever, headache, palpitations, nausea, especially fainting – all these are signs that the sunburn was not limited to a sunstroke.

  What to do with sunstroke at home?

  1. Cold sheets or a cool bath will help in this case too.
  2. The windows need to be opened and the curtains lowered – the victim needs air and shade.
  3. It is best to lie down, put your legs higher.
  4. Place at least a liter of mineral water (or fruit drink, rehydration solution) next to the victim – at least so much should be drunk within an hour.
  5. Call a doctor.

  It is understandable and worthy of respect the desire to cope with any problem on your own. But the willingness, if necessary, to ask for help is worthy of respect all the more.

Dangerous products against burns:

•     Vodka;
•     Vinegar;
•     Urine;
•     Ointments with petroleum jelly, benzocaine or lidocaine;
•     After sun oil or cream.