Many of us have struggled with red, painful sunburns. Luckily, you probably already some of the best home remedies for sunburns on hand in your pantry or medicine cabinet.
A mild sunburn will heal on its own within a week to 10 days, Dr. Shasa Hu, associate professor in the department of dermatology and cutaneous surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, tells TODAY.com.
More severe burns may take up to two weeks to heal and may be followed by skin peeling, she explains.
Although you can’t necessarily speed that process up, there are ways to make the skin feel more comfortable while your body heals. And, for best results, you should begin treating sunburn as soon as you notice it, theAmerican Academy of Dermatology advises.
Here's what to know about the sunburn healing process and the most effective home remedies for a painful sunburn, according to dermatologists.
What causes a sunburn?
“Ultraviolet radiation energy damages DNA in the skin, leading to an inflammatory response," Dr. Samer Jaber, board certified dermatologist and assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, tells TODAY.com.
Specifically, a sunburn is caused by exposure to UVB rays, Hu says. Those rays cause "acute DNA damage as well as cell death," she says. "You're basically frying the top layer of your skin cells, and your body reacts by producing a lot of inflammation," Hu says.
As part of that inflammatory response, your body releases compounds including prostaglandins and cytokines, which cause the blood vessels in your skin to swell.This causes the classic redness, swelling and pain that we associate with a sunburn, Jaber explains.
The reaction can also lead to skin lifting, Hu says, which causes the blistering seen in more severe sunburns.
8 home remedies for sunburn relief
If too much fun in the sun has left your skin with a painful party favor, you probably have some of the best sunburn home remedies already in your pantry, fridge or medicine cabinet right now.
Make a cold compress.
Soak a clean washcloth with cool water and apply to the burn five times daily for about 10 minutes to cool off your skin, Jaber recommends. Hu agrees, adding that this helps reduce the feeling of heat that may emanate from the sunburn.
Take a cold shower.
Cold water can actually help put out the fire you feel on your skin, the AAD says.Take a cool showerand carefully pat yourself dry, but leave your skin a little moist to absorb any moisturizer you apply.
Slather on some aloe.
Keeping a sunburn moisturized will help encourage the healing the process. And aloe verais a time-tested sunburn healer that cools skin on contact.
Jaber recommends slathering some on onto sunburns a few times a day, or making cool compresses with aloe stashed in the fridge. Hu also suggests looking for an aloe vera product that doesn't contain alcohol or added fragrance, which may be irritating to the inflamed skin.
Take an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, reduce the inflammation and pain of sunburn by blocking the action of prostaglandins, Dr. Adnan Mir, a board-certified dermatologist in White Plains, New York, tells TODAY.com.
As explained above, prostaglandins are molecules that your body releases to help manage the DNA damage caused by UV light. However, they also can cause swelling and pain, which can sometimes be quite severe, Mir explains.
Over-the-counter medications like these can reduce the pain and swelling associated with the sunburn.
Bathe in oatmeal.
Colloidal oatmeal — oatmeal ground into a fine powder —is another soothing ingredient that can lessen sunburn symptoms. In particular, the experts recommend a calming oatmeal bath.
You can make your own colloidal oatmeal bath by grinding up a cup of unflavored oats in a food processor and adding them to two cups of warm water. Dissolve the ground oats until the solution is milky, then draw a warm bath and add the oat mixture.
Soak in the calming oatmeal bath for about 20 minutes to moisturize and nourish your skin.
Slather on some dairy.
Jaber says dousing a washcloth with cold milk and using it as a compress can help ease the pain of sunburn and kickstart the healing process — so can plain yogurt. “Apply every 20 minutes and repeat for several hours,” he says.
Stay hydrated.
Sunburns draw fluid to the skin’s surface and away from the rest of the body, according to theAAD. But staying hydrated by drinking extra water when you're sunburned will help prevent dehydration.
Avoid further sun exposure.
Once your skin is burned, it's important to avoid exposing it to any more sun until it's healed, Hu says. Instead, try to stay in an air-conditioned, dry, comfortable environment while your sunburn heals, she says.
How to prevent a sunburn in the future
Not only do sunburns cause immediate discomfort, but they can also contribute to long-term health issues. Specifically, blistering sunburns raise your risk for skin cancer cancer down the line, Hu says.
The best way to deal with the pain and avoid that lasting damage is to prevent sunburns from happening in the first place.
That starts with sunscreen. Make sunscreen a a consistent part of your daily skin-care routine, applying a product with at least SPF 30 and both UVA and UVB protection to your face and any other body part exposed to the sun.
Also, take care to reapply sunscreen regularly throughout the day if you'll be in the sun. And if you're at the beach or pool, make sure you use a product that's water-resistant.
But sunscreen shouldn't be your only defense against the sun's rays. It's also important to wear sun-protective clothing, including a hat, and to stay in the shade as much as possible, expert told TODAY.com previously.
