How sunburn harms our skin, often years later, and how to avoid it: apply sunscreen – SPF 30 or SPF 50, depending on what you’re doing

Skin specialists explain the lasting damage sunburn can do to your skin, and give their top tips for how to treat it and how to prevent it in the first place

To treat sunburn, ‘focus on cooling, soothing and healing the skin quickly’; for prevention, dermatologists recommend applying SPF sunscreen often

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Applying sunscreen is the best way to prevent sun damage, while yogurt, aloe vera gel and moisturiser are great for soothing sunburn, skin specialists say. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:15pm, 22 Jul 2022Updated: 7:01pm, 28 Jul 2022

We have all, at one time or another, forgotten to slather on sunscreen or stick on a hat, and then spent too much time out in the sun – and got burned as a result.

I certainly have, and I remember the aftermath: lying in bed, struggling to get comfortable with chafing skin, and then standing in front of the mirror, regarding my lobster complexion with dismay.

But what actually happens to our skin when we forget to put on sunscreen, or apply too little too late? Hong Kong dermatologist Dr S.Y. Wong puts it bluntly: “You damage it – both the dermis and the epidermis.”

Florence Fatialofa, a skin specialist at Optimal Family Health clinic in Hong Kong, elaborates. “Typically it’s the top layer of our skin, the epidermis, that is affected when we get a sunburn,” she says, “and you see it in the pink – or red – that manifests. And you feel it: that pain.

Florence Fatialofa. Photo: Florence Fatialofa

“Alongside the feeling of warmth, there is a tightness in the skin as it becomes inflamed and dry,” she says. “If the burn is severe you can get blistering on the skin, and the deeper layer – the dermis – can be affected.

“This is the layer of skin where our collagen lives, so this is what causes premature ageing as well as changes to the way the cells respond, for example, in a slow healing response or triggering hyperpigmentation.”