Cures for the Summertime Blues

Treatment and Prevention Options for Sunburn

Aug 6, 2009 Nicole Van Hoey

Despite increased efforts at sun blockage, people of all ages still get burnt in the hot August rays. Learn how to soothe the damaged skin and prevent future burns.

Sunburns are a painful summer reality, even with the best precautions. Although nearly everyone is likely to have experienced a sunburn, their treatments of choice may be quite different.

Best and Worst Topical Sunburn Treatments

A cool compress or bath remains the easiest way to calm your painful skin. Topical creams with petrolatum or cocoa butter moisturize the skin, which prevents the chafing and peeling aftereffects of a burn. Although topical lidocaine and camphor products provide numbing or counterirritation relief from the pain, the effects are short lived and actually increase blood flow and swelling to the injured skin.

Oral Treatments: When Are Pills Useful for Sunburn Relief?Oral medicines, like ibuprofen, provide pain relief by decreasing inflammation-causing chemicals. Oral antihistamines, like diphenhydramine, relieve the itchy sensation of a sunburn but may make you drowsy. When burns are severe enough to blister, swell eyelids, or break the skin, doctors may need to prescibe other treatments, such as oral antibiotics or corticosteroids to prevent infection and decrease pain and swelling.

A Natural Remedy for Sunburn

Salvia, more commonly known as aloe vera gel, is a healing plant with thick leaves of clear gel. Fresh aloe gel contains many active ingredients that reduce pain, itching, and inflammation, including salicylate and magnesium lactate; these ingredients combined provide a thorough sunburn treatment. In addition, other ingredients in aloe vera gel decrease thromboxane, a chemical that prevents healing. With this healing ability and a fairly safe topical profile, aloe vera gel seems to be the treatment of choice for sunburns. However, most benefits have been observed with fresh gel. Because potency decreases quickly, stabilized gels that have unknown activity are used in packaged products.

The bottom line treatment for any sunburn sufferer is to remember the standard therapies of cool compresses and oral pain relievers, even in addition to the highly touted aloe gel to soothe the skin.

Sunburn Prevention 101

Now that the burn is treated, how can you prevent another? First, remember that sun damage is caused by UVA and UVB rays, and their effects occur even on cloudy days. UVB rays cause the most visible damage in the form of sunburn, whereas UVA rays penetrate into skin tissue to cause cell damage, photosensitivity, and cancer.

Because clothing and shade provide only partial sun protection, sunblock is a must, even for short outdoor activities and especially between 10 am and 4 pm, when UV effects are the strongest. Sunscreens and sunblocks are available in myriad forms and can include more than a dozen active ingredients; which is the best option?

Physical Barriers: Once Unsightly, Now Improved

Titanium dioxide, zinc dioxide, and petrolatum are physical barrier creams that reflect the sun's UV rays and provide coverage against both UVA and UVB rays. These products, called sunblocks, are traditionally thick, opaque creams. However, newer clear formulations include ingredients like micronized titanium dioxide, and these fine-particle options are still effective at preventing sun damage.

Skin-Absorbed SunscreensChemical barriers, or sunscreens, primarily absorb UV rays, and their effects against UVB rays are measured as sun protection factor (SPF) levels. This type of protection needs to be reapplied periodically to be effective, even if it is designated water resistant or water proof. Some active ingredients in these sunscreens include benzophenones (eg, oxybenzone or benzophenone-3, with broad-spectrum effect), cinnamates (often seen in water-proof formulations), and octyl salicylate. Avobenzone, another common chemical barrier, absorbs rays across the entire UVA range and can be combined with effective UVB blockers to provide broad-spectrum coverage. According to Schuer and Warshaw in "Sunscreen Allergy: Epidemiology, Characteristics, & Allergens: Sunscreen Allergens" in Medscape.Com of April 2006, allergies are possible to all of these and to other ingredients but occur more often with benzophenone-3, which is the most common ingredient in many sunscreens available in the US.

Relief From the Summer Sun's RageAs with any topical cream or lotion, users should read the warning labels, suggested safe age ranges, and application instructions to ensure appropriate use. With a bit of safety and preparation, the summertime sunburn blues will melt away.

For additional information about treating and preventing sunburns and other types of sun damage, try the consumer health section on sunburn at the National Library of Medicine Web site and the skin care articles section on sunscreen at Skin Care Company.

The copyright of the article Cures for the Summertime Blues in General Medicine is owned by Nicole Van Hoey. Permission to republish Cures for the Summertime Blues in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Aloe vera plant

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