Splendid Skin Care - Beware of the Dangers of Sunburn

Beware of the Dangers of Sunburn

After enjoying an extended stay in New Zealand I was able to stop by Fiji en route to Los Angeles for a twenty-dollar connection fee. I thought that it may be my only chance to stop in Fiji for a measly twenty dollars, so I reserved a four-day layover. Most of the time I hung out on a small island a tick north of the main island.

It was gorgeous, with flowing, crescent-moon beaches, tons of coconuts, plenty of sunshine, and a bunch of hammocks. The snorkeling was awesome, and my second day on the island I rented a snorkel, mask, and some swimfins, lathered on a little sunscreen, and snorkeled to my hearts content. When I finally did get out of the water to get some dinner I noticed that my back felt a little warm.

By the time and returned to my room I realized my sunburn was much worse than I first thought. My back was already pink, with a few lighter splotches where I managed to apply a little bit better coat of sunscreen.

I threw on a shirt and went for some dinner, but by the time I got back and turned in for the night bed, my sunburn turned downright hot. When I laid on my back it felt like I was lying on a bed of coals.

I was finally to fall asleep, but when I woke up my sunburn was so bad it was almost purple, and a week later my skin was peeling off in sheets. It was not a pretty sight nor is a pleasant experience. My fault though, I certainly should have known better.

Sunburn is the leading cause of skin cancer in adults, and with each ongoing burn, your odds of contracting skin cancer increase. When I went snorkeling, slapping on a little bit of sunscreen was the right idea but in reality wasn’t nearly enough.

Not only was my back exposed to the sun for the entire day, but the water washed away all of the sunscreen (even waterproof sunscreen) rather quickly, leaving my skin fully exposed to the damaging rays of the sun.

I should have been reapplying sunscreen at regular intervals of every couple of hours or, even better, using the protective coverage by wearing a t-shirt and despite a my desire to return home sporting a golden Fijian tan.

Once my back was sunburned I did a number of things to treat it. Sunburn, as its name suggests, is in fact a burn, just the same as you would get from touching any hot surface, or exposed flame. I treated it with pure aloe, a tried and true remedy for wounds and burns.

I also took care to put on plenty of moisturizer, since one of the biggest effects of sunburn is that it draws out all the moisture in your skin making it extremely jagged. Though my back eventually peeled and healed, the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been since I took the time to treat my sunburn properly.