Skin reaction to the sunshine!

Ali*

Gold Member
Hi peeps - any advice welcome!

We spent a lovely afternoon in the garden yesterday and today I donned my bikini and did a bit more sunbathing (yes ... bikini!)

Unfortunately I seem to have developed a spotty rash ... I didn't realise at first because it wasn't itchy, however, now it is starting to irritate. It is covering my chest and tops of my arms :(

Can anyone recommend a soothing cream or a remedy?
 
i have this problem..it's prickly heat, i normally get it when i go foreign. at the min i have to take anti allergy tablets now for a week before i go and hope that it stays away.

have you got pure aloe vera lotion? that should ease it.
 
Try Eurax, available from supermarkets and chemists. I have an strange itch and its the only thing that stops it itching.
 
i have this problem..it's prickly heat, i normally get it when i go foreign. at the min i have to take anti allergy tablets now for a week before i go and hope that it stays away.

have you got pure aloe vera lotion? that should ease it.

Not got any of this hun ... I'll investigate tomorrow ... thanks!

Try Eurax, available from supermarkets and chemists. I have an strange itch and its the only thing that stops it itching.

Diolch Spud! I've got some of this upstairs ... darn, it's out of date! Grrr :mad:
 
Are you sure it's the sun? It might be a plant in your garden or something. I'd try a bit of sudocrem or bepanthem... Failing that a bit of e45
 
How out of date is your Eurax? I have tried Bepanthen but it did nowt for me but Im just awkward!
 
Oh and you MUST wear sunblock until the rash goes, I had this in Spain 8years ago on my ankles/lower calves and the sun caused a massive hyper pigmentation and I now have brown splodges! A bit like if you wear perfume in the sun you get brown marks on ur neck.
A bath with bicarb of soda added takes down skin itching.
I could write a book on bicarb !!! Lol
 
Dr Hillary on daybreak said we need to wear factor 50 if you have prickly heat. I get it all the time, just on my hands though.. Aloe Vera, hydrocortisone too,,
 
Also with prickly heat drink plenty of water...believe me it does help! When going out in the sun again, use a high factor, but one that is absorbent and not a blocker to let your skin breathe. I use Piz Buin.
 
Piz Buin makes me get prickly heat too, this year Im trying boots own to see if that stops it. You can take vit c 1000mg tablets to try and stop it just one tablet each day. Loads of water and cold showers
 
It might be polymorphic light erruption (wow, what a scary name!). Basically, it's a reaction to the sun. I get it if I sunbathe in fairly strong sunlight - and it's worse if I'm eating lots of carbs.

The difference between PLE and prickly heat is that PLE happens where the skin is exposed to sunlight and appears fairly quickly and prickly heat is caused by blocked sweat glands and can be triggered by heat and not just sunlight.

PLE can be very painful - my chest area stings and burns like crazy. The best thing to take is anti-histamines and I've found aloe vera gel really helps with the pain. As your skin gets used to the sun it will get better but you might find it comes back next summer until your skin gets used to the sun again. More information is available from Polymorphic Light Eruption | Doctor | Patient UK

The worst thing is, if I eat Magnums I get this reaction - even in weak winter sun. In the summer, white Magnums are just a distant dream (which, actually, is not such a bad thing for my weight loss!).
 
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It might be polymorphic light erruption (wow, what a scary name!). Basically, it's a reaction to the sun. I get it if I sunbathe in fairly strong sunlight - and it's worse if I'm eating lots of carbs.

The difference between PLE and prickly heat is that PLE happens where the skin is exposed to sunlight and appears fairly quickly and prickly heat is caused by blocked sweat glands and can be triggered by heat and not just sunlight.

PLE can be very painful - my chest area stings and burns like crazy. The best thing to take is anti-histamines and I've found arnica cream really helps with the pain. As your skin gets used to the sun it will get better but you might find it comes back next summer until your skin gets used to the sun again. More information is available from Polymorphic Light Eruption | Doctor | Patient UK

The worst thing is, if I eat Magnums I get this reaction - even in weak winter sun. In the summer, white Magnums are just a distant dream (which, actually, is not such a bad thing for my weight loss!).

i have this and thought it was prickly heat. heading away next week for two weeks in spain and the thought of this happening is filling me with dread again...i have started a course of anti allergy tablets in the hope that it stays away but no doubt i will be tortured when away again. anyone else have any remedies for this???
 
Yep, I also get PLE. I developed it in my mid-twenties and get it every summer. I was hoping that it would subside with the menopause (apparently it often does), but no such luck :sigh:

I use a factor 50 sun block religiously which seems to keep it at bay. I seriously regret it if I forget to put it on so I carry a bottle everywhere with me and re-apply every 3-5 hours or if my skin starts to feel hot and itchy. I do still get a lovely tan, but it just takes longer.

I also NEVER sun bathe - a long sun bathing session was what appears to have sparked it in the first place.

Antihistamines make no difference whatsoever to my PLE. I have to take one twice a day from April to September because of my terrible hayfever which reared it's ugly head again after I gave up smoking 8 years ago :( but still get PLE if I am exposed to sunlight for more than about half an hour without a high factor block on.
 
aw naw...:( i love sunbathing when away so i will just have to put up with it..i noticed however that sunbeds before hand helped but i'm not going on them.
 
Getting your skin used to the sun can really help (my consultant offered me the chance to use NHS sunbeds but I decided that I'd take the discomfort rather than risk more wrinkles because I am very vain about my skin!) so gentle exposure with lots of high factor suntan lotion is the way to go. Often it just happens the first time you expose your skin to strong sun. If you get a flare up you have to keep the affected area covered up from the sun until it subsides completely or else it can just flare up again. Once you've had the initial reaction and it's all settled down the chances are it won't happen again until next year...sadly that's not the case for me but it's true for my sister. Who is also skinny. And successful. And younger than me...it would be so easy to hate her if she wasn't such a nice woman.
 
(my consultant offered me the chance to use NHS sunbeds but I decided that I'd take the discomfort rather than risk more wrinkles because I am very vain about my skin!)

There's also the massively increased risk of developing malignant melanoma from sunbed use :eek:

It one of the most ghastly cancers of all :( I worked in melanoma research for 4 years and beleive me it is not a good way to go - the secondaries are vicious and very fast developing!

 
yeah, i am very freckly and a load of moles, will never use a sunbed again as it's not worth it. the weather here isn't too bad so i am going to try and lie out tomorrow for a bit and get my skin used to the heat, hopefully that will help then for the majorca sun!!!!
 
Thanks all for your suggestions. It calmed down last night after a bath but the spots are still sitting just under the surface of the skin on my chest so I know if I exposed myself again (tee hee) it would flare up :(

I'd best get it sorted before my hols to Cyprus! :eek:
 
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