Summer is here and with it all those mouth-watering mangoes, cool melons and refreshing salads. Also arriving with summer is the dreaded sunburn, which leaves our skin parched, dry and stinging. 

Often, despite all your precautions you may underestimate the intensity of the sun and your ability to withstand it. The result is a bad case of sunburn, which dehydrates your skin in such a way that the top layer of the skin cells sloughs off, giving you blisters, which can be extremely irritating, painful as well as ugly.

Sunburn actually occurs when the epidermal cells are bombarded by burning ultraviolet rays causing the enzyme capsules within to burst, destroying the cells and releasing a substance into the surrounding tissue.

The other effect of these powerful rays is to dilate the tiny blood vessels that lie just below the skin’s surface. As more blood is pumped through them, the walls break down and leak serum and blood toxins, leading to external redness, then swelling and possibly blisters and localised pain.

Many of us do not know that we are in danger of sunburn. What are the warning signs that you should look out for? 

Examine your skin. Does it look slightly red or feel sore and tender to a light touch? If it displays either of these telltale signs, get out of the sun immediately before you damage it further. If you are wearing sunscreen and these symptoms still appear, it may be due to two reasons — either you are wearing too low an SPF number or you are exposing your skin for long and should limit your walk or swim to early in the morning or in the evening when the sun is less intense.
If you burn, your skin will get very dehydrated and you should try to replace some of the lost moisture immediately. Splash some cold water onto the affected area. Honey ice cubes (see box) are excellent sunburn soothers as honey is nature’s most powerful moisturiser. 

If the burn is more extensive, have a cool bath and add a few drops of soothing oil to it. Relax in it for about 10 minutes but not for long. Never rub yourself vigorously with a towel — obviously this would be very painful and may even aggravate your burns. Gently pat yourself dry and then massage in a soothing, moisturising, after-sun lotion or a specialised medicated sunburn solution.

Very effective remedies are baking soda paste or sandalwood paste (see box). Another way to soothe sunburn is to keep applying cold wet compresses at regular intervals.

If you do not have any specially formulated sunburn products handy, then use some petroleum jelly, baby lotion or a good moisturising cream — they are extremely hydrating.

Diet can also help in speeding up your skin’s recovery process and you should try to take multivitamin tablets and a zinc supplement every day in addition to eating whole foods and at least one salad. Keep on moisturising — your skin cannot get enough water at a time like this, and definitely stay out of the sun. If you go out, cover up the sunburnt areas and protect yourself with a sunblock. 

You may experience problems sleeping at night. Every time you turn in your sleep you will awaken, feeling sore and burning. Sleep in light cotton clothes and on cotton sheets and, even better, generously powder the sheets with a fragrant talcum powder. This will relieve any discomfort and make the clothes feel softer and more comfortable against your skin.

WARNING SIGNS 

♦ Redness of the skin
♦ A feeling of soreness or tenderness to light touch

WHAT TO DO

♦ Get out of the sun before there’s further damage.
♦ Don’t expose your skin to the sun for long periods.
♦ If you’re wearing sunscreen and yet these symptoms appear, switch to one with higher SPF content.

REMEDIES

♦ Splash some cold water onto the affected area. An excellent sunburn soother would be to fill an ice tray with water to which you have added 5tbsp of honey. When this freezes, rub the honey ice cubes all over the face and let the skin soak up its goodness as honey is nature’s most powerful moisturiser.

♦ A mixture of equal parts of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and cold water is a very effective remedy for sunburn when applied to any burnt area with a soft cloth or cotton wool.

♦ Sandalwood paste with a few drops of almond oil added to it is a good fix for sunburn.

♦ Petroleum jelly, baby lotion or good moisturising creams can act as effective substitutes for anti-sunburn products if there isn’t a specific one at hand.

PROTECTING YOUR LIPS

Your lips do not contain protective melanin granules or oil glands. So they need extra protection in the sun. Intense sunshine causes them to dehydrate, crack, burn and blister. You may even develop a nasty lip sore, which could take several days to clear up. However, there is no need to suffer as you can protect them with a special lip screen. These come in handy swivel cases and those that have a built-in sunblock will block out all ultraviolet rays.

Suparna Trikha is a nature care expert and a columnist. Find her on Facebook: @suparnatrikha. If you have questions, write to her at t2onsunday@abp.in with your age, skin type and other details