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Holiday at school and
vacations at the beach are the favored choice of most
children. Sunburns are painful. We receive most of the sun
damage to our skin as children. Reducing your child's
unprotected exposure to the sun will help to decrease the
chance of premature aging and reduce the risk of skin
cancer.
Overexposure to the sun can
cause a sunburn, which is usually a mild first degree burn
that causes redness and pain a few hours after the exposure,
with worsening of the symptoms over the next twenty-four
hours. More serious sunburns can also cause blistering of
the skin (second degree burn). The main treatment of a
sunburns involves control of pain and includes use of an
acetaminophen or ibuprofen containing product for a few
days. You can also use moisturizers and a 1 percent
hydrocortisone cream three times a day, cool baths or wet
compresses, and drinking lots of fluids. If peeling occurs
you can continue to apply a moisturizer until the skin
heals.
Here are some other tips to
protect your child from the damaging effects of the sun and
for prevention of sunburns:
- Wear protective
clothing, including a hat and long sleeve shirt and long
pants. Keep in mind that most clothing only has a SPF of
5-9, so you can still get sun damage with a shirt on.
- Limit exposure to the
sun when it is at its strongest (10am-4pm).
- Protect your child's
eyes with sunglasses that protect against UVA and UVB
radiation.
- Use sunscreen daily,
even if it is cloudy, since most of the sun's radiation
penetrates clouds and can still cause sunburn.
- Consider using a
sunscreen with ingredients (such as zinc oxide or
titanium dioxide) that physically block the sun's
radiation if your child has sensitive skin.
- Deet lowers the
effectiveness of sunscreens, so use a higher SPF if you
are using a combination product that has both a
sunscreen and an insect repellent.
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