HEALTH ISSUE: SUN-KISSED!

Sun-Kissed!

Here are a few suggestions to 

help you deal with sunburns

      Prevention is always better than cure! This adage holds true in just about all health matters, and that also includes sunburns. With the temperatures soaring in the city, sunstrokes and sunburns are a common occurrence. Apart from damaging skin and causing subsequent pain, research has also linked sunburns with skin cancer later in life. So, the best thing to do is to try and prevent them. But often, no matter how hard one tries, people often suffer from sunburn. So, here're tips to help you avoid and deal with sunburns.

           Never dare to step out in the sun without a lavish application of a 30 SPF sunscreen, half an hour before entering the sun. If you've been out in the sun for more than an hour, check for signs of burning. These include reddish skin and skin that is hot to the touch when in a shaded area. If blistering occurs, severe burns have already occurred and one should get out of the sun as soon as possible. Once a sunburn has occurred, nothing can get rid of it. However, what you can do is reduce the pain. Wash the skin. Dry skin gently, without rubbing.

         Oral painkillers help. There are also medicated sprays that help soothe the affected area and have a cooling and pain killing effect Alie-vera is naturally cooling on the skin.

         Re-moisturise your skin, while the sunburn heals. Oat meal baths once or twice a day help. These help by soothing the skin and adding moisture to it. After baths, the skin should be generously coated with light moisturising lotion.

          The baths should be continued, until the redness begins to fade. the lotion should be continued for a week or two, because even after the pain fades, the skin is not done healing. IT will begin peeling within five days or so in order to expose the healthy skin underneath. Do not pick at the peeling skin.