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Sunburn Peeling: Why It Happens And What You Can Do About It!

by Gorgeousgirl Staff, Updated July 19, 2021
Sunburn Peeling: Why It Happens And What You Can Do About It!

Experiencing sunburn peeling could be quite discomforting, painful and embarrassing you sure don’t wish to be in such a situation. It might look like a small problem but studies have it that you stand a higher risk of melanoma once you have had more than five sunburn experiences in a lifetime. Melanoma refers to one of the worst cases of skin cancer in history. Further research indicates that skin cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in the US today.

Though no one desires a peeling skin it does happen for a lot of reasons. Now, let’s take a deep into sunburn peeling, causes, symptoms and likely treatment.

1. What Is Sunburn Peeling?

how sunburn peeling look like.
Do you know your skin can burn? Yes, when your skin appearance becomes tan or experiences a change in color such that you have uneven pigmentation it means your skin cells have started reacting to UV light. When you skin cells become exposed to UV rays due to the non-application of sunscreen it could result in a sun damaged skin or sunburn peeling.

So sunburn peeling is just a natural reaction of your skin cells to excessive or undue sun exposure.

2. Physical Signs Of Sunburn Peeling

signs of sunburn peeling
Two major symptoms of sunburn skin include varied levels of pains around the sunburn area and redness of the skin surface. You start experiencing the pain in the burnt area while the skin attempts to repair itself. Once you press the skin it has the tendency to become white around that dark spot and then red again once you lift your fingers.

More signs of sunburn peeling include a flaky and peeling skin surface when skin feels warm and tender, red and sore skin.

Some persons do experience nausea, fatigue, fluid build-up, headache, and swellings or sallowness over body and face.

Other signs or symptoms of severe sunburn include sunburn blisters and sunburn itching. Sun damaged skin could become cancerous when not handled with caution hence it is to seek help early to deal with those dead skin cells. Regular sunburn peeling increases one’s chances of aging faster due to interference with the normal functions of the skin and the peeling skin.

3. Causes Of Sunburn Peeling

 uv radiation uv a, b,
Excessive exposure to UV light causes sun damage or a damaged skin and over 80% of light skin persons experience aging faster due to sun exposure.

The sun produces UV radiation UVA, B, and C which mostly gets eaten up into the atmosphere. But before these components get to the earth crust some of it gets absorbed by human skin. UVA and B have the capacity to be absorbed by the exposed skin. While UVB gets to the epidermis, UVB can go deep below the upper skin layer causing more damages leading to sunburn or skin cancer. So once your skin starts to peel the sunburn process is already on course.

Normally, whatever form of tan or redness occurs is an early sign of UV rays interference on the skin. Sun exposure; whether natural sun or artificial sun can damage the human genetic components, DNA. It does not require severe sunburn for the skin cells to become damaged due to UV rays.

Sunburn skin peeling discoloration can occur due to the UV light damage to the DNA or skin cells making it tan or discolor. It means the skin no longer retain its pigmentation. Skin peeling discoloration due to sunburn can occur at different stages depending on the amount of exposure to UV rays.

4. Why Does Skin Peel After Sunburn?

uv light on dna functions causes the skin cells to become damaged
The interference of the UV light on DNA functions causes the skin cells to become damaged. The cells get to the point of self-destructing to help eliminate dead skin cells that cannot heal.
When the DNA cells stop duplicating itself the cells responsible for skin repairs set to work.

With the damage to the top skin layer, the body produces substances into the capillaries resulting in leakage of blood vessels into the cell and area for big skin pores.

So why does the skin peel after sunburn? It is due to extra body fluid or substance already secreted into the skin layer causing redness, hot sensation, and pains. Once the skin cells become damaged the body tries to remove skin cells that are irreparable for fresh ones to grow in their place.

RELATED: Here Are The Best Treatments For Sun Damaged Skin

5. How Long Does Skin Peel After Sunburn?

 sunburn healing process
On how long does skin peel after sunburn, once the skin starts to peel it will take between four to seven days to heal or stop peeling. Again, how long it takes depends on the extent of sun exposure. For mild exposure, it could take four seven days for mild but for severe cases, it could be longer with minor peels over the coming weeks.

The pain means the sun spot healing process and replication of new skin cells is in the process.

6. How To Treat Peeling Skin

how to treat peeling skin
First, understand one thing about most sunburn remedies out there; you are not likely to stop the already done damage to the skin when trying to know what to do in treating peeling skin.

On how to treat peeling skin; take a lot of liquid both internally and externally to stop the peeling skin, help the skin heal faster and provide temporal relief from the pains.

7. How Do You Keep a Sunburn From Peeling?

moisturize your skin
On how do you keep a sunburn from peeling moisturize your skin to keep it lubricated. Then read the underneath steps on what to do next:

8. Should I Peel My Sunburn?

 remove peeling skin
Always the temptation to peel the sunburn is usually high maybe due to the ugly sight and mess it causes on your skin besides the inability to move around often. But no need to be in a hurry to remove peeling skin because you could cause further irritations or scarring. So here is what to do:

  • Take a lukewarm bath once or twice a day to loosen up the peeling skin. Avoid hot bath by all means because it can irritate the skin further.
  • You can use a soft washcloth and warm water to clean the skin surface to help all loosened and dead skin cell fall off faster.
  • Only use a clean sterilized scissors to cut off already loosed and hanging skin but not from the base to avoid irritation to the yet to heal parts.
  • Use antibiotic ointment to lubricate the peeling skin area to avoid infection.
  • You could moisturize the peeling skin area using aloe vera to help rebuild the skin cells around that area.

9. Other Treatments And Preventions

 women wearing hat and applying sunscreen
As a treatment, the best solution would be to allow the skin to heal itself or use vitamin C serum While waiting for the healing to be complete avoid too much contact with UV rays beside drinking a lot of water. Staying away from sunlight between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. could be helpful. You could also apply a cool compress to the affected area and take across-the-counter Paracetamol for temporal relief to the pains. Wearing a hat and sunglasses are also advisable preventive measures.

The best solution to sunburn peeling is the avoidance of an occurrence because if it does occur you would have to wade through it, experiencing the pains until it finally subsides. Preventive measures could include the use of sunscreen and sunblocks products daily before sun exposure especially when the UV index is three degrees or higher. If staying out for long then apply sunscreen every two hours. Lastly, you should see a doctor if swelling, dizziness, severe pains and sores occur because it is a sign of a more critical condition.

“Hope you find the post helpful and we are excited to hear what you think of it!”

By Gorgeousgirl Staff

At GorgeousGirl, our staff is a collection of highly skilled cosmetologists, estheticians, and higher education professionals. Our personnel works together to satisfy your fancies.