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Sunny

The sun is up and its getting hotter! Finally, after the long winter and rainy spring, summer is here; but the increase in sunshine hours per day comes at the risk of getting sunburnt! Long duration exposure to the sun, may therefore turn from pleasure, to a health risk!

While preventative measures are the most effective steps to take care of your skin, there are a number of homeopathic remedies that can aid the recovery of sun damaged skin.

Preventing means reducing

In particular those with lighter skin colour should strictly monitor their limited exposure to the suns radiation. In particular midday (rule of thumb: 11am to 3pm.) exposure should be avoided, and sunscreen should be worn on the uncovered areas of the skin. A note of caution though: While there is protection from the UVB – rays that cause burning of the skin, there is little evidence that sunscreen protects against the skin cancer causing UVA – rays.

If you want a tanned skin colour, the skins exposure to UV light should only gradually be increased. While 20 minutes daily is sufficient for a healthy sun-bath, gradual increase in exposure to the sun can provide a healthier tanning of the skin.

Therefore, to prevent damage to the skin by sunburn, which not only causes wrinkles, but may lead to skin cancer, means to reduce the time exposed to direct sun-light. Go sit in the shade, wear a hat and cover up, the summer is great without sunburn too!

Too late, already sunburnt – the homeopathic remedies

Arsenicum album: Burning, relieved by heat & hot applications.

Belladonna: Intense redness, throbbing, burning. Heat of skin radiates, can be felt on touching. Patient is worse for heat.

Calendula: Burns that are superficial, promotes healing & cicatrization.

Cantharis: Vesication, blisters, raw, painful, burning & itching. Worse for touch. 1St degree burns.

Causticum: Painful, burning, blisters. Cicatrices break repeatedly.

Hypericum: Painful blistering, small blisters. Itching.

Rhus tox.: Blistering, vesicula are large. Burning with itching.

Urtica uhrens: Violent itching, stinging, burning. Blisters. 1St degree burns.

References:

Clark, J. (2014). Materia Medica [online] last accessed 16 May 2014, available at: http://www.materiamedica.info/en/materia-medica/john-henry-clarke/index

Boerike, W. (2000). Homoeopathic Materia Medica [online] last accessed 16 May 2014, available at: http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/index.htm