Sunburn First Aid
Sunburn can be a serious first aid situation. If there are any signs of shock, faintness or dizziness, rapid pulse or rapid breathing, phone a physician or emergency medical help. This also applies to cases of eye pain, nausea, chills or fever. If the sunburn is painful or severe in any other way phone for medical assistance.
In some cases, symptoms of severe sunburn can take an hour or two to appear. Blistering is a sign of a second degree burn. This may require medical attention.
Most cases of sunburn are not so severe, and in these cases there are a number of treatments and products you should know about:
- you can cool the skin with cold compresses or even a cool bath.
- Do not pop blisters. Leave them intact.
- Take any over-the-counter pain medication, such as aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen
- anesthetic sprays (e.g. the commercial product, Paxyl) can take away the pain of sunburn, but use these with caution. Bad burns should be treated by professionals.
Do not use any oil or petroleum-based lotions on serious sunburn. These include tea tree oil, petroleum jelly, butter and most ointments. These trap the heat of the burn. These can be used in the days following, but should not be administered to a fresh sun burn.
An ounce of prevention
Sunburn is generally underestimated as a medical problem and it has long term negative effects. Especially for small children, the value of warding off sunburn cannot be stressed highly enough. Protect your children by having them wear sleeved clothing as much as possible. Hats and umbrellas are very valuable tools in staving off sunburn. For proper sunscreen, wear SPF 15 or higher. Use sunscreen even if it is cloudy as a percentage of UV rays pass through clouds.
For more information on sunburn first aid treatment see our page on burn gels.
