What happens to your skin when it gets sunburned?

If you grew up in the eighties, you would have witnessed the birth of one of Australia’s most successful health campaigns ever. It involved a very jovial, yellow-beaked seagull, wearing board shorts, singing and dancing across the TV screen to the tune of ‘Slip. Slop. Slap.’

It doesn’t matter if you grew up in the eighties, nineties, noughties, inbetweenies (2010-2012) or tweenies (2013-2019), you can’t escape this catchphrase, or its now expanded version of the five key focuses for being SunSmart:

👚 Slip on a shirt.

🧴 Slop on some sunscreen.

👒 Slap on a hat.

⛱ Seek some shade. 

🕶 Slide on sunglasses.

There is loads of information out there about what we should do to protect ourselves from a sunburned face and potential skin cancer, but not a lot of details on what happens to your skin when it gets sunburned. Even if you never get skin cancer, it’s important to know why the sun is damaging to humans, how sun damaged skin can be repaired after sunburn and what the long term effects of sunburned skin are.

So we’ve decided to go skin deep in this blog and explore all these things so you can have an understanding of not only what you need to do to protect your skin but what is at stake if you don’t. 

How long does it take for your skin to get burned?

We are told that sunburn can happen within minutes of being exposed to the sun. But how long does it actually take for sun exposure to cause discomfort or harm to the skin? The answer tends to vary depending on a person's skin type, environmental factors, and sun intensity. On average, sunburn can occur after as little as 10-15 minutes of continuous sun exposure. While your complexion may appear unharmed after those few moments in the sun, your unprotected skin still absorbs the sun’s harmful UV rays, and the harmful effects of the sun can begin to do damage. 

What does sunscreen do for your skin?

Sunscreen protects your skin from UV rays. UV stands for Ultra Violet radiation or rays for short. Overexposure to these UV rays causes radiation burns or sunburn. The sun emits three types of UV radiation UVA, B and C. Our atmosphere absorbs most of the UVC rays, while UVA and UVB rays travel through the atmosphere and are absorbed by our skin.

UVB rays will only infiltrate the top layers of your skin. However, UVA will go much deeper and this is where the big bad action takes place and problems start to occur. 

Applying sunscreen to your skin is like covering yourself with a reflective, lightweight, full body shield, think C-2PO from Star Wars, but not stiff or robotic.  Sunscreen covered skin reflects UVA and UVB rays back into the atmosphere. 

Is it possible for sunburn to damage your skin forever?

When these damaging sun rays penetrate your skin and burn it they are also injuring your skin’s DNA.

UVA and UVB rays, which make up the majority of solar radiation, can cause skin damage that can have serious health consequences. Photons from UVA rays interact with the proteins and membranes in the skin as well as its DNA, compromising their structure and integrity. UVB photons are absorbed by the DNA itself, resulting in both enzyme activity impairment and mutations. The extra energy caused by UVB rays can lead to DNA cross-linking or incorrect pairing, possibly causing malignant or pre-malignant growths on the skin.

These errors or mutations that occur in the skin’s DNA can cause skin cells to grow out of control and form a mass of cancer cells. Not something that any of us want. Protection from ultraviolet radiation is essential for maintaining good skin health. If your skin DNA loses its ability to properly recreate healthy new skin, you are left with impaired skin each time it regenerates. It’s not all bad news though, sun damaged skin can be repaired with time and the right treatments such as Laser pigmentation removal, Green LED light therapy and the use of lightening and brightening home care products.

How long does sunburn last?

It's no secret that sunburns hurt, especially the day after they occur. But do you ever wonder exactly how long it takes your skin to go from just sun-exposed to sun-damaged and sunburned? As a general rule of thumb, sunburned skin will heal in about a week, although sun damage can linger much longer than that. Depending on the severity of sun exposure, healing time for sunburns may vary - a mild sunburn may require anywhere from three days to three weeks to heal. Meanwhile, severe sunburned skin may take months or even years to be restored back to healthy glowing skin! So the next time you plan to spend time outside, be sure to use sunscreen, wear a hat and clothing so that your skin doesn't get unnecessarily damaged and have you waiting for what seems like forever to head back outside and enjoy the summer.

What happens to your skin when you get sunburned?

The process of sunburn is a complex one which begins when keratinocytes, the skin's top layer of cells, detect damage in themselves. In response, they produce molecules to attract immune cells into the skin to help heal them. This leads to blood vessels in the skin leaking fluid and swelling, causing the redness and burning sensation associated with a sunburn. The invasion of immune cells can begin while you're still in the sun but will peak around 24-48 hours afterwards. Their work includes cleaning up damaged skin cells by inducing self-destruct mode and releasing chemicals to cause inflammation and protect against further damage or infection. Sunburns are painful both during the duration of exposure to sunlight and for days after, as it takes time for these processes to reach their peak.

Sunburns can be mild or severe depending on various things, including skin tone, temperature, hours exposed, and SPF used. In addition to discomfort, sunburns can lead to long-term consequences like premature ageing of the skin and an increased risk of skin cancer. It is important to limit sun exposure by seeking shade when possible and cover up with protective clothing. Always remember to use sunscreen with a minimum SPF 30, especially if you will be outdoors for prolonged periods of time.

The facts about sunburn

Australia has some of the highest levels of sun exposure in the world, which makes sunburn a severe issue here. That's why it's so important to protect your skin when spending time outdoors! The three most common signs of sunburn are reddening of the skin, pain, and swelling. Keep an eye out for these symptoms, and remember that it takes at least 24 hours for them to appear. All Australians should take precautions against sunburn all year long ( yes, even during colder months) to prevent longer-term skin damage occurring from overexposure.

If you feel like you can’t wear sunscreen because it doesn’t agree with your skin, making it itchy and irritated, don’t forgo it.  Instead, seek out a non-chemical sunscreen known as mineral sunscreen. We wrote a whole article on the differences between the two, check it out here. If you have acne and feel that sunscreen will only make your skin feel more oily and clog your pores,  this isn’t true. Your skin is already experiencing trauma and you need to protect it in all the ways you can, to help it heal. Be sure to use a sunscreen that is right for your skin type, oily, dry or sensitive. 

Sunburn is an incredibly uncomfortable experience that can affect us all with the right amount of exposure to direct sunlight. Repeated sunburn and the lack of wearing daily sunscreen will lead to long-term skin damage and premature ageing. All sun rays inflict trauma on the skin, whether it be a little or a lot. So save yourself some big dollars on skin rejuvenation and skin revising treatments in the future, by slipping, slopping and slapping yourself to great, gorgeous skin now with a little daily TLC, SPF!

If pigmentation is causing problems and starting to pinch at your skin confidence, book a skin analysis today and we can create a treatment plan to lighten and brighten your skin to picture perfect.