How to soothe a sunburn?

As soon as you notice that your skin is red and irritated, it is best to quickly move away from the sun and seek shade to prevent exacerbating the burn or preventing the onset of other skin lesions. Similarly, avoid any further prolonged and repeated exposure to the sun during the healing period, which can further damage your skin. If you must go out, wear loose protective clothing and apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen to all exposed areas in an attempt to protect your sunburn.

If your skin is blistering, it indicates that you have a second-degree sunburn. These blisters are an integral part of the healing process. Indeed, blisters promote skin healing and protect you from infections. Therefore, allow the regeneration to take its course and avoid popping the blisters to prevent infection (red streaks or oozing pus) and scarring. For the same reason, if your skin starts to peel a few days after the initial burn, it's important not to scratch, peel off, or remove the peeling skin but to let it fall off naturally.

If blisters have appeared, it is recommended to wash them with saline solution, and cover them with a hydrocolloid dressing.

Firstly, it is essential to cool the sunburn to alleviate the pain. Run cold or room temperature water over the burned area to lower your skin's temperature and reduce inflammation for about fifteen minutes. However, ensure this is brief: excessive time in water dries out the skin. If you're showering, also maintain a gentle water flow to avoid putting too much pressure on the affected skin. Similarly, avoid harsh soaps and do not exfoliate your skin during the healing period, as they could further irritate it.

You can add colloidal oatmeal, about a cup, to your baths to soothe sunburns. Research suggests that oat flakes have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

If the sunburn is not extensive, you can cool it down using a cold compress or a damp cloth (not iced) by gently applying it to the affected area until your skin feels cooler to the touch (for about 15 to 30 minutes).

However, avoid applying an ice pack directly to the burned area. This can lead to frostbite, thereby turning one injury into another.

After refreshing yourself, frequently apply a gentle and light moisturizing lotion (fragrance-free, alcohol-free) over the entire affected area while your skin is still slightly damp to help retain moisture, provide a cooling sensation, and promote cell regeneration, all without rubbing. This lotion may notably contain aloe vera, which is ideal for soothing superficial burns.

With its thermoregulatory texture, our after-sun body emulsion contains aloe vera (INCI: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder) in its formula, along with prebiotics, thus providing an immediate soothing effect.

Considered safe, the aloe vera contains aloin/barbaloin, which has anti-inflammatory properties. In an in vitrostudy, researchers have shown that aloin downregulates the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6, as well as the production of nitric oxide, a mediator and regulator of inflammatory responses, through the negative regulation of the iNOS enzyme expression. This anti-inflammatory activity induced by aloin is primarily mediated by the inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway. The aloe vera also helps to hydrate the skin and prevent flaking.

However, avoid ointments and petroleum jelly which can trap heat and worsen the burn, as well as local anesthetic creams such as benzocaine and lidocaine that can irritate the skin or cause an allergic reaction, potentially exacerbating your inflammation and making healing more difficult.

Drinking water proves to be crucial in the event of a sunburn. Indeed, sunburns dry out the skin, which forces it to draw fluids from other parts of your body towards your skin. In addition, hydration also contributes to faster healing. Therefore, make sure to drink more water to avoid possible dehydration.

At the first signs of sunburn, you can take a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), such as ibuprofen, naproxen, or aspirin, to help alleviate discomfort and inflammation.

For a baby under one year of age, a sunburn should be treated as an emergency. Immediately contact your doctor or go to the emergency room. For a child of 1 year or older, call your doctor in case of severe pain, blisters, lethargy, or fever (> 100.4°F).

If you notice that your sunburn is not healing or improving after trying all these solutions, immediately consult a doctor. In some cases, it is better to see a doctor right away, especially if you have extensive severe blisters, if they are not healing or if they are getting worse, if an infection has occurred, if your skin is numb, if you are experiencing intense and general pain, if you feel weak or confused, or if you have a fever, nausea, chills, headaches, or dizziness.

It's important to understand that most sunburns of the first degree take at least a week to heal. On the other hand, more severe sunburns can take weeks, or even months, to heal.

• FEILY A. & al. Oatmeal in dermatology: a brief review. Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology (2012).

• BERTHELEMY S. Conseil à un patient se plaignant d'un coup de soleil. Actualités Pharmaceutiques (2013).

• XU N. & al. Aloin suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response and apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB. Molecules (2018).

• CRANE J. S. & al. Sunburn. StatPearls (2023).