Lubeck says moisturizing the skin with a greasy cream or body lotion after a sunburn is good advice. “Sunlight also dries out the skin,” he says. After-sun is an obvious choice.
Van den Bos: “With the two lighter burning modes, it can be nice to apply after sun. This doesn’t reduce the damage to your skin, but it can be nice and cool.” Lubeck warns against products that contain substances that can irritate weakened skin: “Beware of substances like perfume and menthol.”
Cooling can be fun, but try to avoid direct contact with ice, as it can also be harmful to the skin.
“If the burn is accompanied by pain, analgesics can help, as can cooling your skin with cold compresses,” Van den Bos says. “Sometimes using hormonal ointments to reduce the inflammatory response can also help.” Lubeck: “Cooling can be fun, but try to avoid direct contact with ice, for example, because that can also be harmful to the skin. Always wrap a cold bag in a tea towel.”
It’s not unimportant that your eyes also burn, van den Bos says, “with damage to the cornea as a result. It can be really painful, and painkillers may be necessary as well.”
It’s important to know that the damage done to the skin after a sunburn is irreversible, Lubeck says. “And this damage also occurs in the skin if the skin is not burned.”
Although the body can partially clean up the damage and replace the damaged cells, as the damage accumulates, the body cannot keep up. “Over time, you can talk about ‘accumulated sun damage,'” Lubeck says. “Aging is accompanied by a decrease in the body’s ability to recover, and therefore also with the ability to repair damaged cells.”
This is why it is important to prevent sun damage as much as possible by applying good sunscreen. “Think of that thick layer of peanut butter on a sandwich,” Van den Bos explains. “Per arm can go down to a full tablespoon.”
“Plus, remember to avoid the sun between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. And don’t forget that you can also burn in the shade and that the sun — in addition to skin cancer — can also cause sagging skin, wrinkles, and pigment spots.”
