Ouch, bad sunburn on back of legs

Sunluvva

Any ideas for the best way to soothe it other than normal after sun lotion????  Back of the knees are soooooooo sore

Unknown

Hi sunluvva

try Aloe Vera gel - take it from one who burns to a crisp, it's absolutely brilliant stuff, heals the skin very quickly. I've only ever bought it from foreign countries so I don't know if it's sold over here, but if you have an aloe vera plant at home, lop a couple of leaves off, peel and liquidise them - that'll leave you with the same thing. If you live near a Carribean market (like the one in Brixton), you can buy massive aloe leaves for next to nothing.

Sunluvva

Ta little T, I think I've got some of that lurking in a drawer somewhere, I'll give it a go.

Unknown

Oh - and put it in the fridge beforehand - it may not make it work better, but it feels damned good

[Deleted User]

I'm not a 'sunluvva' as I'm a redhead. The joke at home is that I burn with the weather forecast - I don't even need to go out in the sun! The absolute best cure for sunburn is natural yoghurt. I know it sounds odd, but it works. Use it from the fridge (it's nice and cool like Little T's suggestion for the aloe vera) and smear it on with cotton wool. Leave it for about half an hour and then rinse it off in the shower with luke warm water. Do this a couple of times a day and I promise it will throb less.

The worst burn I ever got was after a couple of hours windsurfing on the Charles in Boston. I had shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt on, and plenty of sunscreen, but it wasn't waterproof and washed off. My legs were so badly burned that there was capilliary damage and my ankles completely swelled up!

Not pretty

[Deleted User]

I'm in the badly burnt legs camp too, from hillwalking last weekend.
Backs of legs and front above the knee, so badly burnt that I had difficulty staightening my legs the next day.

I sat in a tepid bath twice a day and lathered on the aloe gel (aftersun gel from Superdrug), which has helped a lot. My ankles swelled up a bit too and had to lie on floor with them hoiked up onto a chair (theory is to keep the swollen area above the heart). That's all gone now too, but skin is still red looking ...

Stupid stupid me!!

[Deleted User]

Aloe vera gel for me too

[Deleted User]

prevention is better than cure.

invest in some good sunscreen.

i'm aloe vera fan too - i use both the gel and the propolis cream.

Farnie

As someone who has been lasered, I agree with the Aloe suggestions.  It was the only thing that would help with the huge enormous blisters you get from a 1-2-1 with a nd YAG and Ruby laser

Sunluvva

Thanks guys

Managed to do the run yesterday - the south downs 100 mile relay- couldn't really sit in the mini-bus covered in yoghurt but did use loads od aloe vera gel and sudocream which helped me bend my legs and stop them turning into pork crackling.  Also drunk loads of water - a must to rehydrate from the inside.  The first run was agony but kept slaping the stuff on plus sunblock before each run and was fine.   I can bend my legs with no pain now and the redness has eased.