What to do if you are burned

On Sunday we went out on the water by boat. Snack in hand, drink present, a solid application session with sunscreen and off we go. Suddenly my brother shouted the words you don't want to hear: you're burned. But how? I applied it, right? And a lot? What now? I grabbed the phone and called our household skin expert Annelijn van Ierland from Skin Kliniek to gather tips. Make use of them.

1. Ensure cooling of the skin

It is important to cool your skin so don't shower too hot if you're burned. The trick is to seek cooling under lukewarm running water. A wet, wrung-out towel on your burned body parts is also always nice to soothe the pain. Note: gently pat the skin dry with soft hands; rubbing will further irritate the skin.

2. Reapply your skin

After showering, immediately reapply your skin with a mild moisturizing body lotion. You actually don't want a cooling variant here, as there is a chance it contains menthol which can irritate the skin. Choose a body lotion that is free from alcohol and perfume. Applying several times a day is best for your skin, as it is dehydrated from the burn. By the way, you don't need a special aftersun.

3. Don't make it worse

Preferably avoid the sun for the first few days (if you have that luxury), wear protective clothing (you don't need any more excuses for a hat), and whatever you do, don't rub or scratch if the skin starts to itch, as that will make it worse.

4. Drink water

You should already do that as the temperature rises, and if you're burned, even more so, because you need to hydrate yourself and the skin from the inside out.

5. Soothe the pain

If you're in pain, you can just take a paracetamol, it helps. How convenient, never thought of that.

6. But the most important thing when you notice you're burned:

get. out. of. the. sun.