Sunburn is a very painful consequence of taking advantage of the hot weather. Painful in the double sense of the word, because it causes physical pain and is extremely difficult to control. Most of us, in an act of desperation, turn to old, home-made methods, such as buttering burns. It turns out, however, that it does not make much sense, and it may even harm us.
- Sunburn takes hours to develop, so countermeasures should be spread over time
- Cool compresses and lubricating the skin with soothing, cooling and moisturizing preparations will work best
- The use of butter and other fatty foods will be counterproductive – it will not relieve pain as much, and the affected skin will heal longer
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Sunburn takes hours to develop
If you are sunburned, there are two things to keep in mind. First, a burn of this type develops gradually, even for hours. Redness of the skin may be visible after several dozen minutes of exposure to the sun, but it may also appear after some time. In either case, it will also worsen hour by hour, causing pain. The sooner we react (by applying a soothing, analgesic and regenerating agent to the skin), the better, but we must not forget to regularly take care of burned skin
Second, a sunburn is not the same as a thermal burn, which is caused by (usually sudden) contact of the skin with a very high temperature (e.g. boiling water or hot oil). It belongs to the category of radiation burns caused by radiation (in this case solar, although there are also burns caused by contact with other radiant agents, such as X-ray).
For this reason in the case of sunburn, the methods that we use after thermal burns will not work. For example: while the burn with boiling water should be cooled down with cold water for a long time (minimum 20 minutes), the sunburn should be poured with cool water briefly, only to relieve the pain. In the first situation, we take rescue action, in the second – pain relief.
The rest of the text below the video.
Butter is good for sunburn? It’s a myth
Many home remedies for sunburn have limited effects. The popular cooling of the skin with yogurt gives the effect, but it is short-lived: it will only bring relief until the product does not heat up (sometimes it is just a few minutes). It is even less effective to lubricate burned skin with butter, because the oily layer blocks the release of heat to the outsidewhich will make us feel discomfort for longer. Fatty foods will not relieve pain, and it will take longer for the affected skin to heal.
So what will work? The best way will be cool compresses (not cold, so as not to shrink the blood vessels too much), with water only or with the use of chamomile or calendula infusions, as well as aloe and preparations with soothing, cooling and moisturizing properties that will relieve pain, help with itching of the skin and accelerate its regeneration. They should contain ingredients such as D-panthenol, allantoin or hyaluronic acid.
Panthenol and allantoin in a convenient form can be found in Pianka PanTenol. The 150-milliliter product at a promotional price is available in Medonet Market.
You don’t have to spend a few hours on the beach to come home with sunburned skin. Sunburn can occur even when walking around the city, especially when we discover a large part of the body and do not protect the skin with creams with a UV filter. Therefore, the best “way” for radiation burns is always … to prevent them.
These are simple actions: the aforementioned cream that absorbs ultraviolet rays, appropriate clothing (airy, “breathable” and protecting the most susceptible parts of the body to sunburn, i.e. the face, arms, back and neckline), as well as avoiding the sun when it is the most intense and harmful (11-16).
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