Sunburn A Nasty End To A Great Day!

The other night I was watching the movie "A River Runs Through It", which if nothing else shows wonderful fly-fishing in action. Of course that is not the main theme of the movie, but if you fish that part stands out watching their lines whipping and dancing over the river. Another part of the movie has both brothers taking one brother's future brother-inlaw fishing. Now he never goes fishing as he had brought a girl with him and they end up behind some of the bushes, and fall asleep in the sun unclothed. When the brothers finally come looking for them after a days fishing, well needless to say they are bright red with very bad sunburn.

Now, that is off the water, but we have all seen fishermen and boaters alike out on their boats with no shirts on involved in the sport and many are showing signs of severe sunburn. If it happened to you, regardless of the reason, whether you fell asleep in your boat or the shirt you wore did not keep out the sun's rays, or you forgot to apply your sunscreen how would you treat it.

If your close to home or a drugstore, there are lotions and sprays that work great to stops the pain and helps with healing. But if your out on the trail and in the back country then what do you do?

First off what causes the redness of sunburn? The redness is caused by clogged and swollen capillaries that supply blood to the skin. Sunburn hurts and can be very dangerous and long lasting, if not treated correctly. If the body of water you are on provides shaded areas with shallow pools of cool water, soaking in those pools can help relieve the pain. If you have any aloe vera jell with you it could be applied or the use of baking soda mixed with a bit of water to form a paste would help with the pain and itching. But if you failed to bring either of those items with you then cold mud from the stream or river bed would help to protect your skin from further damage., until proper care can be provided. By smearing it over the sunburn.

Signs of when you need to see a medical doctor as soon as possible include:

1. You have nausea, chills or fever.
2. You feel fatigued or faint.
3. You have extensive patches of blistered, purple or discolored skin.
4. You have intense itching.

The best prevention is not getting sunburn in the first place. Try doing outdoor water activities before 10:00 am or after 2:00 pm, when the ultraviolet rays are less intense. Wear sunscreen on exposed areas of your skin with an SPF of 15 or higher.
Cover up with shirt and trousers, and wear lip salve or chap-stick, or vasiline to protect your lips and inner nose from sunburn. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes.

Anyone have any other tips to share or have you ever experienced the pain of a bad sunburn on the water or trail, or while camping and want to share your story? Please do so here.

 

This summer has been a real bad one for me in terms of sunburns. I've gotten 2 really nasty ones that made my skin peel, I must be more careful with sunscreen next year although I've never gotten any nausea, chills or fever from a sunburn they are incredibly painful and can really throw you off for a few days.

Thanks for the advice.