Condition

Sunburn

Sunburn is skin damage from too much ultraviolet (UV) light. It hurts for a few days and heals on its own, but the damage underneath adds up over a lifetime.
At a Glance

Sunburn is an inflammatory reaction in the skin after too much ultraviolet (UV) light, from the sun or from a tanning bed. It shows up hours after the exposure, looks worst at about 24 hours, and settles over three to seven days.

Cool compresses, a plain moisturizer or aloe, ibuprofen and plenty of fluids are the whole of the treatment. Nothing makes a sunburn heal faster.

The honest catch: the surface heals completely, but the UV damage to the cells underneath does not undo, and it adds up with every burn.

Key Facts

How CommonVery common. Around a third of US adults report at least one sunburn a year.
Who Gets ItAnyone. Fastest in people with lighter skin, freckles, and red or blond hair. Brown and Black skin burns too, just more slowly.
Chronic or CurableNeither. It is a one-off injury that heals in about a week.
Rx RequiredNo. Home care handles almost every sunburn.
ContagiousNo.

Symptoms

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Sunburn does not appear straight away. It usually starts two to six hours after the exposure and looks its worst at about 24 hours, which is why people are often surprised by how bad it is the next morning.

What it looks and feels like

Redness or a darker patch — hot to the touch, and it goes pale briefly when you press it.
Pain and tightness — the skin feels tender, and clothing or a shower can be uncomfortable.
Swelling — mild puffiness, most noticeable on the face, shins and the tops of the feet.
Blisters — small fluid-filled bumps mean a deeper burn. Leave them intact.
Peeling — starts around day three to seven. It means the damaged cells are being shed, not that anything went wrong.
Feeling unwell — chills, headache, nausea and tiredness can come with a large burn. This is sometimes called sun poisoning, though it is not poisoning.

Where it shows up

  • Wherever the light landed — with sharp edges at the line of a swimsuit, sleeve, watch or sandal strap.
  • The places people miss — the tops of the ears, the back of the neck, the scalp parting, the lips, the tops of the feet and the backs of the hands.
  • Through cloud and water — UV passes through both, so overcast days and time in the water still burn.

How it looks on different skin tones

On light skin, sunburn is bright pink or red. On brown and Black skin it often does not look red at all. The skin may look darker, ashy or grey, and the burn is recognised by heat, tightness, tenderness and swelling rather than by colour. Darker skin burns more slowly, but it does burn, and the damage underneath is the same. Marks left behind afterwards tend to be more noticeable and last longer.

Light
Medium
Brown
Deep

If your rash came on in the sun but does not fit this pattern, see Lookalikes near the bottom of this page.

Causes & Risk Factors

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Sunburn is direct damage from ultraviolet light. UVB rays are absorbed by the DNA inside your skin cells and break it. Your body responds by sending blood and inflammatory cells to the area, which is the heat, redness and pain you feel, and by killing off the cells that are too damaged to repair. Those are the ones that peel away a few days later. Tanning beds do exactly the same thing, and there is no safe version of one.

How quickly you burn depends mostly on how much melanin your skin makes. Lighter skin, freckles, red or blond hair and light eyes burn fastest. Altitude, water, sand and snow all raise the dose, because UV reflects off them. Some medicines make skin burn far more easily than usual, including doxycycline, some water pills, some anti-inflammatories and certain acne treatments. So do a few skin products, such as strong retinoids and acids. If you burned in an amount of sun that never used to bother you, a new medicine is worth checking.

What Hurts and What Helps

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What Makes It Worse

  • More sun on skin that is already burned. The burn is still developing for the first day, and any extra exposure adds to it.
  • Hot showers and baths. Heat is already trapped in the skin, and hot water adds to the sting.
  • Thick ointments like petroleum jelly on a fresh burn. They hold heat in while the skin is still hot. They are useful later, once it has cooled and started to dry out and peel.
  • Numbing sprays and creams ending in -caine, such as benzocaine and lidocaine after-sun products. They are one of the more common causes of an allergic rash on top of a sunburn.
  • Picking at peeling skin or popping blisters. Both open the skin to infection and can leave a mark.
  • Alcohol, which dries you out further at a time when a large burn is already pulling fluid from the rest of the body.
  • Tight clothing and rough fabric over the burn.

Daily Habits That Help

  • Cool it down. A cool shower, a cool bath, or a cool damp cloth held on for ten to fifteen minutes, several times a day. Cool, not ice. An ice pack straight on burned skin can injure it further.
  • Moisturize while the skin is still damp. Plain aloe vera gel or a simple fragrance-free lotion is enough. Keeping it in the fridge makes it feel better, not work better.
  • Take ibuprofen for the first day or two if you can take it. It helps the pain and the inflammation together. Acetaminophen helps the pain only.
  • Drink more than you think you need. A large burn pulls fluid into the skin and out of the rest of you, and mild dehydration is a common part of feeling rough afterwards.
  • Leave blisters alone. Intact skin is the best dressing there is. If one breaks on its own, wash it gently, use a plain ointment and cover it.
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  • Stay covered while it heals. Clothing, shade and a hat are more reliable than putting sunscreen on sore skin.
  • Wait it out. Nothing shortens a sunburn. Most settle in three to seven days, and peeling runs a few days past that.

Try at Home

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Sunburn care is comfort care. Nothing here shortens the burn. These make the next few days easier while your skin repairs itself.

Always
The first and most useful thing to do. A cool damp cloth, or a cool shower, for ten to fifteen minutes at a time, several times a day. Cool, not ice — an ice pack straight on burned skin can injure it further.
Always
Nothing for the burn you already have — do not rub sunscreen into sore skin. It is the only thing that prevents the next one, and every burn you avoid matters, because UV damage adds up and does not reverse.
Moderate evidence
The most useful thing you can take. It works on the pain and the inflammation together, which is why it beats acetaminophen for sunburn. Most helpful in the first 24 to 48 hours, while the burn is still building.
Limited evidence
Cooling and moisturizing, and it feels good on a burn, especially kept in the fridge. Be honest about what it is doing: the evidence that it speeds healing is weak. Use it for comfort, and pick a plain gel without added alcohol or fragrance.
Moderate evidence
A plain fragrance-free moisturizer applied while the skin is still damp helps with the tightness in the first days and with the dryness once peeling starts. Skip anything with fragrance or alcohol — burned skin reacts to both.
Moderate evidence
The alternative if you cannot take ibuprofen. It handles the pain but does nothing for the inflammation, so it works less well for sunburn specifically.
Limited evidence
A thin layer twice a day for a few days can take the edge off the itch and redness of a mild burn. The evidence that it changes how a sunburn heals is thin. Do not use it on broken skin or open blisters.
Limited evidence
A cool oatmeal bath is comfortable when a large area is burned and itchy, particularly for children. It soothes; it does not heal.
Limited evidence
A drying, cooling compress that is useful when blisters have broken and the skin is weeping. Dissolve a sachet in cool water and hold a soaked cloth on for fifteen minutes.
Moderate evidence
Timing is everything here. Do not put it on a fresh, hot burn — it traps heat in. Once the burn has cooled and started to dry and peel, it is one of the best things for the dryness, and it is useful on a broken blister under a dressing.
Limited evidence
Sold everywhere as after-sun, and generally not worth it. They numb for a short while, and -caine ingredients are among the more common causes of an allergic rash — which is a bad thing to add on top of a sunburn. Cool compresses and ibuprofen do the same job more safely.

When to See a Dermatologist

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Almost all sunburns are handled at home. Get medical care the same day if:

  • Blisters cover a large area of the body.
  • You have a fever, chills, a bad headache, or you feel confused or faint.
  • You are dizzy, very thirsty, passing little urine, or vomiting. Those point to dehydration.
  • The burn is on a baby under one year old.
  • After a few days the skin becomes more painful, swollen, warm or weepy, or you see spreading redness or pus. That is infection, not the burn.
  • Your eyes are painful and gritty. Eyes get sunburned too.

A routine visit is worth booking if you burn very easily, you burned after starting a new medicine, or you have a lot of moles and have never had a skin check. A dermatologist can look at the moles at the same time and can tell you plainly how much sun protection your skin actually needs.

Prescription Treatments

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Rarely needed, and reserved for a severe, widely blistered burn. Usually handled in urgent care rather than by a dermatologist.

Limited evidence
Occasionally given for a severe, widely blistered burn with a lot of swelling. It is not a routine sunburn treatment, and the studies looking at whether it helps an ordinary burn have been disappointing.

What to Expect

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Step 1
The first 24 hours

The burn is still developing. It will look and feel worse tonight than it did when you came inside. Cool it, drink, and stay out of the sun.

Step 2
Days two to three

The peak. Pain and heat are at their worst, and any blisters appear now. This is when regular cool compresses and ibuprofen earn their keep.

Step 3
Days three to seven

The heat and pain fade and the colour starts to settle. Itching often replaces the soreness. That is normal and usually means it is on the mend.

Step 4
Days five to ten

Peeling. The skin comes away in sheets or flakes because those cells were too damaged to keep. Moisturize and let it come off on its own instead of pulling at it.

Step 5
Two to four weeks

The colour evens out. On brown and Black skin a darker mark can hang around for a few months. It is pigment, not a scar, and it fades.

Step 6
The honest long view

The surface heals completely. The DNA damage deeper down does not. It adds up over a lifetime and is what drives skin cancer and early ageing. Blistering sunburns matter most, and are linked to a higher risk of melanoma later on. Past burns cannot be undone. Every burn you avoid from here still counts.

Complications

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Most sunburns heal with no lasting problem. A few things are worth knowing.

Dehydration and heat illness
A large burn pulls fluid into the skin. On a hot day that can cause dizziness, headache, nausea and, at worst, heat exhaustion. This is what people mean by sun poisoning.
Infection
Broken blisters and picked skin can let bacteria in. Increasing pain, swelling, warmth, pus or spreading redness after day three is infection rather than sunburn.
Marks left behind
Darker or lighter patches where the burn was, most noticeable on brown and Black skin. They fade over weeks to months.
Photosensitivity reactions
If a medicine or product was involved, the burn can be far worse than the amount of sun would explain, and it can happen again with much less sun next time.
Cumulative skin damage
Repeated burns are a main driver of wrinkling, leathery texture, brown spots and broken vessels years later.
Skin cancer risk
UV damage adds up and does not reverse. Blistering sunburns, especially in childhood and the teenage years, are linked to a higher risk of melanoma. One burn is not a diagnosis. It is a reason to protect the skin from here on.

Lookalikes

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Not every red rash after a day outside is a plain sunburn.

  • Polymorphic light eruption (sun allergy) — itchy bumps or small blisters on sun-exposed skin, usually the chest, arms and neck, appearing hours to days after the first strong sun of the year. It itches more than it hurts, and it often spares the face.
  • A drug photosensitivity reaction — looks like a severe sunburn but follows very little sun, and only where the light landed. Common with doxycycline, some water pills and some anti-inflammatories.
  • Heat rash (miliaria) — tiny prickly bumps where sweat is trapped under clothing, not matched to where the sun hit.
  • Phytophotodermatitis — odd streaks or drip-shaped marks that blister and then turn brown, from lime, lemon, celery or fig juice on the skin in the sun. Often mistaken for a burn or a bruise.
  • Cellulitis — a skin infection. One area, hot, tender, spreading, usually with fever, and it does not respect the shape of where the sun hit.
  • Rosacea flare — flushing across the cheeks and nose that sun sets off, but it comes back repeatedly rather than following one exposure.

Sunburn has one giveaway: sharp borders that match the shape of what you were wearing.

FAQ+
How long does a sunburn last?Most settle in three to seven days, and peeling can run a few days past that. A blistering burn takes longer, sometimes two weeks.
Can you speed up sunburn healing?No. Nothing shortens it. Cool compresses, moisturizer, ibuprofen and fluids make it more comfortable while your skin does the work.
Should I pop sunburn blisters?No. Intact blister skin is a sterile cover that keeps infection out. If one bursts on its own, wash it gently, apply a plain ointment and cover it.
Is aloe vera actually useful?It is cooling and moisturizing, and it feels good. The evidence that it heals a burn faster is weak. Use it because it is comfortable, not because it fixes anything.
Why not use petroleum jelly on a fresh sunburn?On a fresh burn it traps heat in skin that is already too hot. Once the burn has cooled and started to peel, it is fine and helps with the dryness.
Are after-sun sprays with lidocaine or benzocaine safe?They numb briefly, but -caine ingredients are common causes of allergic rashes, and an itchy allergic rash on top of a sunburn is a bad trade. Plain moisturizer and oral ibuprofen are safer.
Does peeling mean my skin is healing wrong?No. Peeling means those cells were damaged past repair and are being shed. It is the normal end of a moderate burn.
Can dark skin get sunburned?Yes. More melanin means slower burning, not immunity. The burn may not look red at all, and the UV damage underneath is real.
What is sun poisoning?It is not poisoning. It is the whole-body reaction to a large burn: chills, headache, nausea, tiredness and sometimes fever. It needs fluids, rest and, if severe, medical care.
Does a base tan protect me?Barely. A tan gives roughly the protection of SPF 3, and it is itself a sign of UV damage. It is not a useful strategy.
Can one bad sunburn cause skin cancer?No single burn causes cancer. But UV damage accumulates, and blistering sunburns, particularly in childhood, are linked to a higher melanoma risk later. It is a reason to prevent the next one.
Do I still burn on a cloudy day or in the water?Yes. Most UV passes through cloud, and water reflects it rather than blocking it.