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Conditions

Sunburn

Sun ageing

You make enjoy eating lobster, but you certainly won’t enjoy looking like one. Sunburn is caused by ultraviolet (UV) light overheating and blistering your skin. Your skin produces melanin to protect itself against the sun’s harmful rays, but though you see this as suntan, it cannot protect you against the sun’s other harmful side effects, such as premature ageing and skin cancer. Whilst redness and blistering of the skin are common, sunburn can also cause dizziness and headaches, as well as making you feel sick and lethargic. This is not the best way to spend your holiday. If you’ve already baked yourself and are looking for treatment then you should cool the skin by sponging it with tepid water and drink plenty of water to replace the lost fluid. You can also apply moisturiser and after sun cream to relieve the tightness, but if your burn is severe you may need to see your GP.

What the Men in White Coats Say

Comments and Questions

The EB doctors have been looking at your comments and have answered some of the common questions below. Remember that it is always best to check with a health professional if you have any concerns about your health.

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Please note: Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot respond to individual inquiries. If you have any concerns, you can check out NHS Choices, but ultimately it is always best to check with a health professional.

My son is 27 years old and likes to be out in the hot sun, but doesn't use sun cream. He has recently come out in clusters of white spots on his neck and back. Are they dangerous and is there something he can do to get rid of them. I worry they could be cancerous





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i am 41yrs old male i have lots of brown mole like spots over my body well over 20 i know some are actual moles but the rest i think are sun spots not risen very smooth. i have always taken precaution when out in the sun and have seemed to have accumilated these spots over the last ten years i am very conccious about taking my top off now because of all these spots. i have seen my doctor and he has no concern about them but i woul like to know is there any thing i could use to reduce or make them fade away.





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Hello, I managed to get badly sunburned, i took cold showers and loads of after sun to cool it down like you should. after about 6 days i started to peel but where i have peeled, i am still very red underneath. is this normal? or should i just wait a little bit longer for it to calm down. thank you.





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i have a friction burn on th lips of my vagina from my partner giving me oral. it was mildly painful at the time but im used to his stuble i didnt expect this to happen until it still felt painful hours later and i realised my underwear had slightly stuck to the area. ive worn loose clothing for the rest of the day but im going away in just over two weeks and had planned to wax this may be out oft the question now but i really need the area to heel well. i dont want it to scab over. is there anything u can suggest?





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For the past 6 months my eyelids are constantly puffy & swollen, they dont go down and i look tired all the time, docs gave me anti-hystamins thinking it was an allergy; but they have made no difference. I have tried cold compress and warm flannels, nothing is working. Any ideas from anyone would be much appreciated. Thank you.





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My mum has the same thing and it was put down to eczema as she's suffered with it for a long time. However, after being given various ointments, anti-histimines etc she finally got diagnosed with a condition called blepharitis. Put a search in for it on NHS website and see if any of the symptoms sound familiar. It took ages for my mum to get a diagnosis!

Hi, in the last 8 months I had a small mark above my lip. It is now getting darker and larger, and people think its a dirty mark on my face. What can i do about it? I am ligth brown in colour and 46 years old.





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I have a mole on my fourth little toe next to my nail. Because my toe curls under my third toe, you do not see the mole without pulling the toes apart. I started to notice this when I was 18. I'm now 23. The mole has And still is growing slowly. In the last 6months it's grown just over 1mm in diameter and 4mm in the last 5years roughly. It has various different colours but there is no Blackness. It is not symetical and I very rarely wear next to nothing in the sun as I'm body conscious however I did alot as a young teenager - unto the age of 16. One occasion having having severe sun blisters on my shoulders whilst holidaying in Croatia. I'm worried this might be melanoma. I have been to hospital and had it checked but they discarded it but told me to keep an eye on it but I'm not satisfied am feel there is Something very wrong :-(. Any advice?





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Hello, when i was around 1 i was burnt with boiling water down my left leg, i have a 3degree burns but although i have bits that are dead, some of my legs burn still has blood supply, but it has not formed into normal skin, it feels like stretch marks and it dose not match my skin tone, i have been very upset about my leg for a while and i was just wondering is there is something that i can use that might reduce the look of my burn or that will help it to become more normal, i am 13 years old and i dont like to go out in public in shorts because people stare, please help me!





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Hello, i am 13 and when i was young i was burnt on my left leg with boiling water, i have a 3degree burn to my leg, but although most of the burn is dead, some of my skin still has blood supply, but the bit that has blood supply is not normal skin, its a different colour and it feels like stretch marks, i am feeling ashamed to go out with shorts on and i know i will have to live with it, but i was just wondering if there is a cream that i could use to try and reduce the look of it?





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Im 18 and I watched a repeat of the program last night and heard a shocking statistic that if you get sunburn when your 15 you have 50% increased change of getting skin cancer (..or something to that effect). I go on holiday every year and every year I get burnt even though I wear spf 60 sun lotion and don't go in the sun between 11am - 3pm. I'm concerned that because I've been burnt so many times my chances of cancer are increased considerably. I was wondering if there are any signs I can look out for?





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It looks like no one else has asked this question, so please fill in the rest of your details below.





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Content supplied by NHS Choices

Sunburn is skin damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) rays in sunlight. With too much exposure to UV light, your skin overheats and becomes red and painful, and may later peel or blister. Read More »

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