When faced minor burn
from the sun, or a unhappy kitchen
mishap, most people do not need to go running to the emergency room. In
fact,
most minor burns can be treated right in the home without the need of a
medical
professional. Whether the sun turned you into a lobster or some hot
grease
jumped out of the pan and bit you, there are a few basic things that
you can do
on your own that can relieve the pain, reduce the scarring and minimize
any
skin damage.
Dealing
with sunburns
Sunburns
are the most common type of minor burns that people
tend to get during those long, hot summer holidays.
While sunburns will not kill you immediately,
too much sun induced skin damage can have some serious health
consequences
later on, especially if you are fair skinned.
The best way to deal with
sunburns is to not get them in the
first place. Preventing
sun damage from
happening to your skin will limit the chances of skin cancer from
developing
and also help keep your skin from looking like old leather in your
later years.
The best way to keep from getting sun baked, is to limit your exposure
to the
sun, especially during the peak hours of 10 to 4 when then
sun’s rays at their
most intense. If
you do go out into the
sun, be sure to apply sunscreen and if you are planning to spend the
day out
there, make sure to reapply sunscreen every 20 minutes.
Now, if you do happen to
get sunburned, there are a couple
of things that you can do to help minimize the pain and the cellular
damage.
One of the best things that you can do is to get yourself some aloe
vera gel
and slather it on the damaged parts. Research indicates that aloe vera
can help
your burns heal faster and can even encourage your skin to repair
itself,
limiting the amount of cellular damage. Aloes long chain
polysaccharides also
have displayed anti-mutagenic properties that can help prevent the
formation of
cancerous cells. The purer the aloe gel, the better making the stuff
taken
directly from the plant itself the best stuff you can use. If you do by
prepared aloe gel, be sure to buy aloe that has not been prepared with
alcohol,
which can dry out your skin and add to the discomfort.
Vitamin C taken both
internally and externally in the form
of a topical skin cream also helps limit the damage and repair the
skin. Your
body uses Vitamin C to build collagen, which provides underlying
support for
your skin. Sunburns can damage this all important collagen and lead to
premature aging of your skin. Taking C can help you rebuild the damage
caused
by sunburns.
Treating
other types of burns
Accidently scorching
yourself over a hot BBQ grill during a
summer outing, or scorching yourself while boiling water is something
that
happen to everyone on occasion. These local surface burns hurt like
hades, but
they are not all that serious. It will probably turn a little red and
swell a
bit. It may even blister but the overall danger is still minimal.
The best thing to do if
you happen to burn yourself is to
immediately put your burn under some cool running water. This will help
limit
the amount of pain and help control any blistering. Aloe is also a good
friend
in times like these. The gel of an aloe lat will help soothe the pain
further
and spur on the healing process. If the burn is really bad, you
probably should
wrap it up in some gauze or a second skin burn pads if you happen to
have some.
The burn is a deep red,
blisters up or covers a wide swath
of skin, you might want to seek some medical attention. Large, severe
burns are
prone to infection and complications and doctor can assist in the
healing
process and help prevent further scarring.