Sunburn and hayfever

[IJL]

I'm sure no YACFer would dream of booking an appointment at their surgery for sunburn but I would just like to confirm I have no miracle cure and certainly nothing on prescription.  I do however have a short lecture on what to do when the scary ball of fire is seen in the sky.  On a similar note enough cetirizine for month can be bought in your local supermarket for less than £1.


There, that feels much better.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Depends on the sunburn . . .

My sister-ex-law's sister's red-haired-freckly fair-skinned children had notes from parents to school about not making them stay out in the sun. School ignored notes for school sports day. Children were in hospital for several days with blistered backs. There is sunburn and there is sunburn.

This was in Australia, mind you, but people should not underestimate even UK sun. You can get serious burns.

[IJL]

There is sunburn and there is sunburn

There is no doubt sunburn can be very nasty, my point is that there's not a lot that can be done with it.  Horses and stable doors spring to mind. 

[Ham]

Cooling, soothing stuff, skin-repair-y slathered on.

Boots aftersun, Calamine, are two that come to mind.

[hellymedic]

Meanwhile, my Egyptian former schoolmate has posted a 'It's not the sun that causes cancer, it's the sunscreen' story on Bookface. This has rightfully upset another classmate, a GP, whose Dad died of melanoma.
I HATE the pseudoscientific bollox she propagates.

I am fair-skinned and detest sungloop.

I mostly stay indoors or under a BIG hat.

Sunburn can be very nasty.
And dangerous.

Preventing it is rather easy...

[L CC]

I'm 48 years old and I still get sunburn every year.

(I think this belongs elsewhere)

[Mrs Pingu]

If the sunburn is that bad then get in a cool shower and run cool water over it gently for 10 mins, treating it as you would a heat burn.
I can testify to this approach having stood at a stand pipe on a French campsite pouring bottle after bottle over Pingu's back. It works. Calamine or after sun wouldn't have touched it.

[IJL]

I HATE the pseudoscientific bollox she propagates

Its remarkable the sort of health related drivel that gets posted on social media and then shared by people you hadn't realised were a bit thick.  Cancer curing fruits and cannabis oil which seems to cure all human disease apart from chronic gullibility are popular posts at present. 

[TPMB12]

Avoidance of excessive sun exposure is the solution. Harder if you live an outdoor life outside of work. You're exposed to.It all day. I slather early doses of an all day factor 30 minimum before going out or on going out if camping. Rieter p20 is my favourite. Then boots factor 30 with 5 stars protection for the other uv type used throughout the day. All day sun screen doesn't really exist.

The other thing I think helps me is to get exposure to sun early in the year. The sun is low in the sky and IME is less likely to burn. For me it slowly tans, which gives me a certain amount of protection.

Ultimately I'm fortunate being the sort who rarely burns, tans and generally go a rather nice colour tan. I was out in the height of the sun at the weekend for about 3+ hours without cover or sun protection. I burnt red a little but it was only sore if i scratched my skin where it burnt. I only.burnt on the back of my upper right arm just above the elbow below the t-shirt.

Last time I burnt properly I was a young child. Blistered all over my shoulders and back. Skin peeled off a day or so later. Blistered skin had pus in the small blisters that burst when I rubbed them. Within the, week I'd recovered and had turned very tanned.

My advice is find your own protection levels. Someone I knew needed rieter p20 highest spf they do applied a couple of times hour before going out. Then factor 50 half hour before going out. Then regular re-application of spf 50 hourly. Plus covering up as much as possible. Otherwise she went straight from so white she's translucent to blistered in less than an hour.

There was a joke I heard, tasteless but the original was funny, about scottish people tanning by turning white.

[Greenbank]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/40340716/heatwave-leaves-edinburgh-gardener-with-second-degree-burns

[Mrs Pingu]

Crikey, he sounds like skin cancer just waiting to happen.

[T42]

Chum of mine had a brush with skin cancer a few years back, now wears long sleeves when cycling.

When I came back from our hot ride on Monday I slapped Biafine on the red bits. It was originally developed for minor burn relief; works well.

[Polar Bear]

Being albino means that I have no protection at all from the sun.   I use a factor 50+ rated suncream.   I have to slather up on a sunny day in February or October let alone at this time of year.

I hate suncreams with a vengeance.  They are greasy and slippery and when cycling everything sticks to your skin.  I regularly return on a Sunday with my shins coated in grit, grime and bugs.  However, suncream does a remarkable and invaluable job for me.

Having tried an awful lot of brands Nivea Sun is the one that I feel works best for me though it does have an unpleasant side effect.   It attracts all manner of flying bugs.   

I can also attest to the soothing qualities of a cool shower for a good fifteen or twenty minutes.

[mrcharly-YHT]

PB, have you tried the Aldi own-brand? We've found it to be fairly good.
You have my sympathy, as freckly kid in Oz, I lived under a constant coating of either white or pink zinc.

[hubner]

Avoidance of excessive sun exposure is the solution. Harder if you live an outdoor life outside of work. You're exposed to.It all day. I slather early doses of an all day factor 30 minimum before going out or on going out if camping. Rieter p20 is my favourite. Then boots factor 30 with 5 stars protection for the other uv type used throughout the day. All day sun screen doesn't really exist.

I would have thought if you have the choice, why not avoid the sun when it's strong. In hot countries, you don't see people going out just to be in the mid-day sun in the summer.

It's people who work outdoors who can't avoid the sun.

[Polar Bear]

PB, have you tried the Aldi own-brand? We've found it to be fairly good.
You have my sympathy, as freckly kid in Oz, I lived under a constant coating of either white or pink zinc.

Not to date but I don't really feel the need as the Nivea is incredibly reliable.   I don't even need a second slather when out cycling for the day although I do carry a small pot of suncream just in case.

I will bear it in mind though.   It would be helpful to have information on where own brand stuff like this is sourced.   Never going to get that I guess.   

[barakta]

I would have thought if you have the choice, why not avoid the sun when it's strong. In hot countries, you don't see people going out just to be in the mid-day sun in the summer.

It's people who work outdoors who can't avoid the sun.

Cos we're BRITONS and sun is such a rarity we want to SOOOAAAAAAK it all up before it runs away!

Sensible countries with a climate have months of increasing sunshine and therefore can rely on most or many days being pleasant so can avoid the midday worst heat and enjoy the evening and morning sun. I was in Romania in the summer once, start very early, do work, go home for lunch and siesta, do a bit more work (maybe) go home again, chill then go out and enjoy having a drink in the warm somewhere outside of which there were loads.

[hellymedic]

Mad dogs and Englishmen...
(Scotsmen have paler skin and are otherwise little different...)

[rafletcher]

Chum of mine had a brush with skin cancer a few years back, now wears long sleeves when cycling.

When I came back from our hot ride on Monday I slapped Biafine on the red bits. It was originally developed for minor burn relief; works well.

Similarly I used to use Solarcaine, which contains Lidocaine. Very effective on bites and small burns. No longer available in the UK (or maybe it's EU wide). Should have asked my wife to pick up some from Walgreens when she was in the US recently.

[T42]

It's apparently available here, but the site I looked at says that Eurax is similar. Never tried it for sunburn yet, though. Stinks.

[TPMB12]

Avoidance of excessive sun exposure is the solution. Harder if you live an outdoor life outside of work. You're exposed to.It all day. I slather early doses of an all day factor 30 minimum before going out or on going out if camping. Rieter p20 is my favourite. Then boots factor 30 with 5 stars protection for the other uv type used throughout the day. All day sun screen doesn't really exist.

I would have thought if you have the choice, why not avoid the sun when it's strong. In hot countries, you don't see people going out just to be in the mid-day sun in the summer.

It's people who work outdoors who can't avoid the sun.

Also if your free time is spent outdoors such as walking, backpacking, cycle touring, etc. then the choice is do it in the sun or don't do it. If you're on your main holiday touring on your bike and camping out you end up spending a lot of time in the sun. You just have to cope with that one way or another. If outdoor workers can cope with the sun then other people who carry out their leisure activities outdoors can too.

[Jakob]

Aloe Vera cream or gel works wonders for soothing sunburn.

[Legs]

My eldest (4) is rather unfortunately allergic to every suncream we've tried on him apart from the now-discontinued Tesco Sensitive stuff and some Ambre Solaire that we found purely by trial-and-red-blotchy-error.  He being blond like me, we have to be ultra-careful with his skin.

[ian]

Avoidance of excessive sun exposure is the solution. Harder if you live an outdoor life outside of work. You're exposed to.It all day. I slather early doses of an all day factor 30 minimum before going out or on going out if camping. Rieter p20 is my favourite. Then boots factor 30 with 5 stars protection for the other uv type used throughout the day. All day sun screen doesn't really exist.

I would have thought if you have the choice, why not avoid the sun when it's strong. In hot countries, you don't see people going out just to be in the mid-day sun in the summer.

It's people who work outdoors who can't avoid the sun.

Also if your free time is spent outdoors such as walking, backpacking, cycle touring, etc. then the choice is do it in the sun or don't do it. If you're on your main holiday touring on your bike and camping out you end up spending a lot of time in the sun. You just have to cope with that one way or another. If outdoor workers can cope with the sun then other people who carry out their leisure activities outdoors can too.

Most of my hobbies tend to be outdoor-y things like hiking (and I'm not doing that, I'm on the bike), so the sun is hard to avoid and my tidily mowed head is a prime target. There wouldn't be much point staying home at the best time of the year. And I like the heat.

Anyway, I have to slap on factor 50 at a minimum, factor-100 for all-day hike and wear a hat when walking. I mostly get urnt when I pop out for a hour and convince myself it's not worth the palaver glooping up. I'm usually wrong. That and when it's mostly cloudy but there's still enough UV getting through to tenderize my pasty skin.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Mad dogs and Englishmen...
(Scotsmen have paler skin and are otherwise little different...)

Some Scots.  My Dad was a bit more like the Edinburgh gardener, red hair and all, but I am dark-skinned and have a permanent cyclist's tan because I never go topless unless swimming.  I was 7 when I came to Britain from Africa then Cyprus and was very dark indeed.  It was only after several years when it wore off that I experienced getting my forearms slightly burned after a day spent sailing.  Since being in France a lot of the time I have gone back to being mostly dark again. I have almost never used sunscreen but do wear a hat or helmet.  The concept of lying in the sun on a beach has never appealed in the slightest.