What helps against sunburn? Tips and household remedies
What helps against sunburn? Tips and household remedies
The question “What helps against sunburn” always comes up if you have not applied enough sunscreen or not at all when swimming or sunbathing. In mild cases of sunburn, self-treatment is sufficient, for example with quark toppings. In severe cases, medical and often also inpatient help is necessary. Here you can read all the important information about “What helps against sunburn?”
Light to moderate sunburn – what helps?
If you suffer from sunburn, you should react quickly to limit the damage to the skin and promote the healing process. The following measures are advisable:
Out of the sun
The first aid in case of sunburn is walking in the shade. Even if there is hardly any reddening of the skin, but you feel a slight burning or itching on your skin, you should stay out of the sun.
Cooling
A stay in a cool room or a cool shower is beneficial for overheated skin. What helps with sunburn are also moist and cool compresses: They are also able to remove the heat from the burned skin. You can use water or cooled black tea for the envelopes, for example.
A good help against sunburn on the back, shoulders or chest is to wear a wet T-shirt. It also has a cooling effect and can relieve the burning and itching caused by sunburn.
Drink a lot
You can also do something against sunburn by drinking plenty of fluids. This is because the body has an increased need for fluids due to the burn. Suitable thirst quenchers include water, cool tea or diluted fruit juices.
Creams and lotions
A pharmacist can also help you with the question “What to do in case of sunburn”. He can recommend cooling and pain-relieving creams, gels or lotions. Preparations with dexpanthenol (also as a spray) are often used. This vitamin precursor promotes wound healing. As an anti-inflammatory agent for minor sunburn, a cortisone preparation can be applied externally, for example as a cream or lotion.
Severe sunburn – what to do?
Severe or extensive sunburn must be treated in hospital. The doctor will prescribe medication for internal use, for example as an infusion. So-called NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as Diclofenac are particularly suitable. They are said to be more effective than internally applied cortisone.
You should also see a doctor if the sunburn is accompanied by high fever and severe headaches. Then heat stroke or sunstroke may be behind it.
Sunburn & Home remedies
Various home remedies for sunburn are described on the Internet and in magazines. However, not all of these home remedies actually provide effective help for sunburn. But some of them can be quite useful.
Sunburn & Curd
A frequently recommended household remedy against sunburn is also a cooling layer of quark: spread a finger-thick layer of quark on sunburned skin and cover it with a linen cloth. Once the quark has become warm, you can replace it with a new, cool layer of quark.
An alternative to quark for sunburn is yoghurt: you can also make a cooling topping from it.
Various herbal remedies for sunburn are also recommended. Preparations based on poplar buds have a proven effectiveness. They contain so-called salicylates and have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and wound healing promoting effects. This makes poplar buds a good help against sunburn.
The skin inflammation caused by sunburn can often be alleviated with preparations of camomile blossom or oak bark extract. The use of aloe vera (for example as a gel) for sunburn is also popular.
The following applies to all medicinal plants: If you are known to be hypersensitive to a certain plant, you should definitely avoid it. If possible signs of an allergic reaction only become apparent during use, you should discontinue the preparation. A doctor or pharmacist can then certainly suggest a suitable alternative to the question “What helps against sunburn apart from this preparation or medicinal plant?
