Sunburn on Face, Swollen, peeling, on Babies, Pictures, Remedies & Treatment

Sunburn on face is typically characterized by swollen face and a dark and peeling skin. This condition tends to affect babies more than adults. This post presents, facts, pictures, signs and symptoms and causes of sunburn on face. Furthermore, it explores how you can get rid of and prevent this condition with medication and home remedies

Table of Contents

Signs and Symptoms of Sunburn on Face

Your face has a delicate skin that can develop sunburn when you are exposed to excess sun’s rays. The sunlight has a powerful UV- rays that can burn your skin seriously. Long and direct exposure to these rays can lead to bad sunburn on face that can hurt you more.

Usually, sunburn on your face can show up as painful red burned spots. The affected area of the skin by sunburns may become red and swollen. The burned skin also forms fluid-filled blisters that are very painful and sensitive to slight heat.

The general signs and symptoms that are usually characterized by sunburn on face include the following:

Redness, tender and inflamed skin of the face
Dry, scaly, flaky and cracked skin on the face
Dark, black, brown, red, pink or white dots and patches on the face
Fluid-filled burned blister on lips, cheeks, around eyes, and on forehead
Single or numerous red burns on skin of the face
Tiny or large patch of dark burns on the face
Wrinkles and freckles on the face
skin peeling on lips and other parts of the face

These symptoms of sunburn on face can appear more seriously on the skin of babies and toddlers than for adults. This is because the baby skin is usually underdeveloped hence they are at high risk of being affected by sunburns on the skin.

Sunburns on your face can develop into sunspots. Your sunburn dark skin can be described as solar lentigines. Sunspots on the skin are common dark marks that can appear on various parts of your body including your face.

Causes of Sunburn on Face

Your face can develop sunburn due to major two causes. This includes the sun’s rays and the artificial rays. also, there are various risk factors that can actually encourage sunburn on your face. The causes of sunburn on the face include:

1. Exposure to direct sun’s rays

The skin of your face can develop sunburns after direct and long exposure to sunlight. The sunlight has a powerful radiation called UV rays. These rays can burn your face when you get exposed to direct light from the sunlight.

Sun damage on the skin of your face can range from mild to severe. Mild sunburns are the acute effect of UV rays. They are usually associated with few and small red burn of the skin. Also, mild sunburns can lead to dry, scaly patches on your face that can restore after a short period of time.

Serious sun damage on your skin includes severe or chronic sunburns. This skin damage can lead to second and third-degree burn. Also, the chronic effect of UV rays on your skin can lead to other serious skin condition. These include:

severe burns on the skin of the face
fluid-filled burnt skin blisters
premature black age spots on the face
chronic wrinkled skin with freckles
actinic keratosis on the face
serious sunburned eyes
cancer of the skin

Serious sunburns on the face can hurt you more and even develop to a health complication. It is advisable to seek the help of the dermatologist for diagnosis and treatment especially when your skin develops severe sunburns that look worrisome.

2. Artificial UV rays

You can develop sunburned face due to the effect of exposing your skin to artificial UV rays. The UV lamps in the tanning can lead to burned skin that looks similar to sunburns. Sometimes artificial UV rays might be more powerful than UV rays from the sun hence causes more serious skin damage.

You can develop serious sunburn on your face when you are exposed to powerful UV rays from tanning beds for a long duration. Similar to sunlight, artificial UV rays can lead to serious skin condition such as severe burns, wrinkles, freckles, age spots, Melasma and cancer of the skin.

What are risk factors can cause sunburn on the face?

Your face can develop sunburns due to various predisposing factors. They include:

Sunny day: your face can develop sunburns during weather that is featuring a lot of sunshine. Sunburns are common during summer seasons compare to winter.
Lighter skin: having a lighter skin simply suggest that your skin has less melanin or skin pigment hence you might be at high risk of developing sunburns.
Albinism. This is an inherited disorder that is characterized by lack of skin pigment or melanin. If you are having this condition, your skin might not be able to tolerate sunlight. This can result in high risk of getting sunburn on face and other parts of your body.
Allergic to sunlight: your face can develop sunburn if your skin is highly sensitive to sun’s rays to stimulate allergic burnt blisters.
Childhood age: babies, toddlers or children have the underdeveloped skin that is vulnerable to develop sunburn if exposed to sun’s rays.

Sunburn on Babies

According to Baby Centre, they attribute that sunburn on face in babies are common than in adults. This is because the baby skin is still underdeveloped with less amount of melanin. Also, the skin of the baby is thinner and soft that makes it more vulnerable to sunburns.

It is advisable to protect the skin of your baby against harmful UV rays from the sun be keeping her in shade. Alternatively, you can apply the appropriate sunscreen cream on the skin of your baby before exposed to sunlight.

In case your infant or baby gets serious sunburn on her face, you can seek the help of your doctor for diagnosis and treatment.

How to Get Rid of Sunburn on Face Fast

You can get rid fast sunburn on your face using various treatment methods. You can use natural home remedies to remove mild sunburn from your face. For the case of having severe sunburns on your face that are likely to advance into a serious health problem, you can heal it by using medical treatment by visiting your doctor.

Treatment

Your doctor can help you to heal sunburnt face fast using various medical treatment methods depend on your skin condition. Your doctor may determine the type of degree burn on your skin using suitable diagnosis method that includes a physical examination.

After diagnosis, the doctor will give you the appropriate medical treatment that can help to cure sunburn on your face. Some of the treatment methods that your doctor might use include:

Prescription of oral drugs that include anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and painkiller drugs such as acetaminophen
Prescription of skin soothing creams and lotions that can help to relieve sunburn on your face
Surgical treatment that includes laser treatment that can help to remove chronic sunspots from your face

Home Remedies

You can use the following natural home remedies that can help to get rid of sunburn on face. Try the following:

1. Cold compress

Cold compressing your sunburned skin with ice cold water can help to reduce pain and inflammation in the affected area.

How use:

Soak a towel in a basin of ice cold water for few seconds
Use the soaked towel to cold compress your sunburned face
Repeat to cold compress it several times until pain stops

2. Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is a suitable home remedy you can use to cool your sunburnt face. It can also help to relieve redness, burning, and inflammation of your skin.

How use:

Use your hand to apply the Aloe Vera to the affected area of your skin
Let it stay on your skin for 30 minutes before rinsing it off with cold water
Repeat to apply it twice daily until your face is relieved from sunburns

3. Coconut oil

Coconut oil is an excellent home remedy that can help you to remove sunburn from your face faster. This oil can help to soothe itchy burns and moisten the dry scaly skin to initiate the healing process.

How to use:

Get coconut oil and apply it directly to the affected parts of your face with sunburns
Allow it to stay on your skin for more than an hour before you rinse it off
Repeat this treatment twice daily until you are relieved from sunburn on face

4. Drink a lot of water

Drinking plenty of clean water is an effective home remedy that can help to restore your skin from sun damage. Water can help to moisturize your skin that can help to cure dry burnt patches on your face.

How to use:

Drink about 8 to 12 glasses of clean water daily until sunburn on your face go away
Alternatively, you can drink plenty of non-alcoholic drinks such as fruit juices

5. Raw honey

Raw honey has medicinal values that can help to heal sunburns on your face. Also, it can help to soothe burns and moisturize dry burned skin.

How to use:

Get 2 teaspoons of raw honey
Apply it directly to the affected skin parts on your face
Allow it to stay on your skin for about 30 minutes before rinsing it off with water
Repeat to apply it three times in a day for few weeks until sunburn on your face go away

How to Prevent Sunburn on Face

You can use the following tips to prevent your face from getting sunburns. They include:

Avoid exposing your face to direct sunlight for long duration
Protect your face against sunlight by wearing a hat or use an umbrella when exposed to sunlight
Apply suitable sunscreen creams with SPF or any appropriate sunburn facemask that can help to protect your skin against harmful UV rays from the sun
Always stay in shade during sunny day or stay indoors
Avoid the use of tanning bed that has harmful UV rays
Avoid medication that can make your skin more sensitive to sunlight such antihistamine, antidepressant, and certain antibiotics

When to See a Doctor

You can visit your doctor over sunburn on face if you notice the following conditions:

When the sunburns on your face has refused to heal within a period of three weeks
When sunburn on your face are causing severe pain, irritation or burning sensation that makes you feel a discomfort
When the sunburnt blister is large on your face that looks worrisome
If the sunburnt skin on your face becomes red, tender and swollen
If the sunburn blisters start producing pus
If the sunburn on your face is accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, chills, headaches, and others.