Hi Moms,
My 14 yr old daughter got a snow sunburn on her face while skiing. And the swelling has me worried the most. Should I be concerned? She has few blisters, no sickness, no fever, and she has a good appetite and drinking water. We are rotating tylenol with ibuprofen, and applying aloe from aloe plant.
The best thing I've found is Milk of Magnesia, any store brand will work. Pour it into a bowl, soak a washcloth, then sqeeze gently so it doesn't drip, then lay it onto her burn. Keep the cloth refreshed and moist and within a few hours the burn will be gone, and the skin will not be blistered.
That sounds like about all you can do - sooth the burn and treat the inflammation with OTC meds. Later, when the sunburn and blisters peel, that new skin underneath is going to be sensitve to make-up and soap, etc. This is just one of those life lessons learned the hard way.
That happened to our daughter after skiing all day. It was some years back, but she was miserable. The pharmacist told her to get her face down in cold water often, and she went thru lots of Noxema jars. It was a horrible burn. The sun reflects off the snow and produces a bad sunburn. He told her to drink lots of water as well.
When I was about your daughters age, I got a snow sunburn on my face. It was awful!! My whole face was blistered, and I lost so many layers of skin, my skin actually looked the best it did during that stage of my life (pimples and all, you know). I don't remember exactly what my mom did for me, but I don't think she even took me to the doctor and I was fine. Just give it some time to heal.
You didn't say how long she has had this.......if it's not getting any better and it's been over a week, I think you should take her to the doctor and have it looked at to make sure it's not frost bitten a little bit.
Take care.
It sounds like your daughter had a great time skiing! Strange as it sounds, I've always put yogurt on a sun burn. I used to get very bad sun burns every summer as a child and my mother used yogurt to not only cool the area, but prevent blisters and cut the pain. I use it on my daughter with great results. Plus it's cheap and easy to apply. If the are is real bad, I add honey to the yogurt before applying. Slather it on, wait until it starts to crack and rinse off with warm/cool water. Repeat. Hope this helps you too!
K.
