June 21, 2023, the first day of summer and I am at home nursing a sunburn. While having too much fun walking and talking while in the pool with friends, six hours flew by. Without thinking, without sunscreen I went home and took a cold shower and saw my lobster red skin. Not all sun exposure is a bad thing. Sunlight, in small doses, is beneficial. It gives you Vitman D which is good for bone health. Helpful steps below on how to get comfortable while treating a burn. #1 STAY INDOORS if you can.

1. Take frequent cool baths or showers to help relieve the pain. As soon as you get out of shower, gently pat yourself dry, but leave a little water on your skin. Apply sliced open aloe leaves, then top that repairing balm with a moisturizer with aloe to trap the water in your skin. Ease the dry itch.
2. Wrap an ice pack in a damp cloth and hold it over the burn. This will absorb some of the heat from your skin, constrict blood vessels, and reduce swelling.
3. Cut open a few vitamin E gel tablets and rub on red areas. The anti-oxidant soothes skin. If a particular area feels especially uncomfortable, you may want to apply a hydrocortisone cream. Do not treat sunburn with “-caine” products (such as benzocaine),
4. Take aspirin or ibuprofen to help reduce any swelling, redness and discomfort. Also add tea bags to hot water. Put a cup of 6 tea bags in the fridge. Place cool tea bags on eyes and red areas.
5. Drink extra water with slices of cucumber in it. A sunburn draws fluid to the skin’s surface and away from the rest of the body. Drinking extra water when you are sunburned helps prevent dehydration. Also slice open a COLD cucumber and rub it on the skin, it works great.
6. Make a paste by mixing baking soda and oatmeal with water and then apply the paste directly onto the burnt areas. Leave it on for 10 minutes before washing off, repeating the process twice a day
7. If your skin blisters, allow the blisters to heal. Blistering skin means you have a second-degree sunburn. Do not pop the blisters. Blisters form to help your skin heal and protect you from infection.
8. Take extra care to protect sunburned skin while it heals. Wear clothing that covers your skin when outdoors. Tightly-woven fabrics keep bright light from coming through.

The classification of the burn depends on the layers of the skin that are affected.

• First-degree sunburns involve redness, and maybe a slight peeling of the top layer of the skin, or the epidermis, she says.
• A second-degree sunburn also affects the epidermis, and will have blistering, even layers of blisters, redness, and peeling sheets of skin. It may take a few hours after long-term sun exposure for the burn to get pink or red and painful, depending on the severity. If your sunburn is accompanied by a fever or nausea, you may also have gotten sun pooisioning. Load up on fluids in addition to checking in with a doctor.
• Third-degree burns are in a different category, because they actually reach the under-layer of your skin: the dermis. Because they usually result from chemicals or fire burns, there can be permanent scars on the skin, says Dr. Jacob.