How to Heal from a Severe Sunburn

Member

By Kathleen Lynn
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (14 Ratings)

The sun can harm your skin and sunburns are no fun

Having recently experienced a painful sunburn, there are degrees and variations of these common burns. They are actual skin burns and need to be taken seriously.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Aloe Vera
Solarcain
Gatorade or Powerade
Aveeno

Step 1

Use this or Powerade the first day of or after your sunburn.

Is your sunburn painful? Are you having difficulty walking because of a sunburn? Experiencing a pins and needles pain in the sunburned area when you use it? Those are good indicators that your body is dehydrated as well sunburnt. Immediately begin drinking Gatorade or Powerade to replenish your fluids. If you get hydrated again, the pins and needles pain can actually pass within a day of your sunburn and leave you to just deal with the actual sunburn.
Step 2

Use this first on severe burns

There are lots of old wife tales and home remedies that many prefer to use to treat the actual sunburn. Aloe is normally my first choice for sunburn coverage. However, in a severe case aloe just doesn't get the job done. The idea of using something such as milk or yogurt would probably work but the thought of putting that much work into your treatment can be overwhelming if you are exhausted on top of the burn. Here is where the Solarcain comes in handy and effective. Use this the maximum amount of times you can according to the directions. This caps out at 3 to 4 times a day usage I believe.
Step 3

Aloe Vera Plant

When your between solarcain applications and still miserable, use the aloe vera. You can buy bottles of gel fairly cheap. In addition if you want to try a remedy like milk or pepto bismol you can. Bathing the first day of the burn is going to hurt a lot on a severe burn. In some cases, if you have on hand or want a Doctor bill you can call or vist your physican and possibly acquire some silverdyne cream. This works like a charm and is actually more effective than solarcain. If you want to experiment, you can also buy a herbal silver ointment at a health store. It will not be as strong as the prescription, however. Honestly, if you have some of this on hand in your home then it would be worth trying it if your burn is severe under proper directions. If you do not, it may not be worth the expense of a Doctor visit to get the cream unless your burn is blistered, bleeding, oozing or you have any symptoms of other heat illnesses associated with your burn.
Step 4

Baths can help re moisturize your dried skin as it is in the final stages of healing.

After a few days your sunburn should have lessened a lot in the pain department. You may even forget to put anything on it for a few days after the inital burn period. Then it starts itching and flaking. The itchy can be very uncomfortable. Here is where the Aveeno will come into play. Use the Aveeno bath products to take a soak in the tub.
Step 5

An excellent moisturizer utilizing natural ingredients.

After your soak, towel dry. Then apply an Aveeno moisturizer to your sunburn areas. This will help them heal and help you avoid a lot of that itchy sensation.
Step 6

Next time apply sunscreen and cover the areas of your body that burn the worst.

Comments

tachic said

Flag This Comment

on 10/20/2009 Great tips to heal from a sunburn. I might need to get some aloe as I managed to burn the side of my neck with my blow dryer curling iron!