HEALTH NEWS: Sunburn

It’s that time of year again. Working and playing outdoors often results in sunburn, some mild and some quite painful. During the summer months it’s very important to protect your skin from excessive sun exposure.
When exposed to sunlight our skin manufactures vitamin D. Our body uses vitamin D to add calcium to our bones and may help prevent some cancers. It takes between 15 and 30 minutes of sun on moderately exposed skin to produce all the vitamin D you need in a day. Unfortunately too much sun expose can cause a variety of health problems.
Most sunburn cases are not very serious but they indicate enough sun exposure to increase our risks of skin cancer. Basal cell and squamous cell cancers are usually slow growing and are often caught in time to prevent them from being life threatening. Melanoma, however, can be a very aggressive form of skin cancer and is often resistant to chemotherapy and other forms of cancer treatment.  There were over 11,000 deaths from melanoma in the U.S. in 2004.
Those individuals with fair skin and light colored hair are more susceptible to sun damage to their skin. Certain medications can also increase sensitivity to the sun. You can check with your doctor to see if any of your medications make you more sun sensitive.
It’s not hard to prevent sunburn and sun related skin damage. Sunscreens (suntan lotion) are very effective in protecting you from the sun’s rays. You should use one with an SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of 15 or greater. It is important to use the amount recommended by the manufacturer and apply more sunscreen every 2-3 hours. Most people do not apply adequate amounts of sunscreen to achieve the SPF listed on the bottle or tube.
Sunscreens with higher SPF’s provide more sun protection.
The use of hats and clothing are an easy way to protect your skin from the sun. Their effectiveness decreases when clothing is wet but there are some types of clothing made especially to prevent sunburn even when wet.
It is especially important to help prevent sunburns in children as there is an increased risk of skin cancers in those developing sunburn at a young age.
Treatment of sunburn depends on decreasing the amount of inflammation produced by injury to the skin. In many ways sunburn acts like other types of burns such as skin exposure to hot objects.
Over the counter anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen (Motrin), naproxen (Aleve) and aspirin can relieve some of the pain of sunburn and decrease the amount of inflammation present. Some prescription forms of this medication are a gel that can be applied directly to the skin. Cool compresses can produce temporary pain relief and skin lotion can help prevent the skin from drying out. Sunburns severe enough to cause blistering should usually be evaluated by a physician. The use of Aloe Vera may give temporary pain relief due to its cooling properties but studies have not shown it to decrease the inflammation associated with sunburn.
It takes only a few minutes to apply sunscreen and wear appropriate outdoor clothing. These few minutes can prevent serious health problems for years to come.

This article is one in a series of monthly columns by Greene Family Medicine where doctors will answer your health-related questions. If you have any questions that you would like to ask a doctor for this column, please send them to: Greene Family Medicine, Attention: Paige Herndon, 140 Stoneridge Drive, Suite 100, Ruckersville, Virginia 22968