Can The Sun Ruin Your Tropical Holiday?

by Dorothy Yamich

Even though these three sun related medical problems, sunburn, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke, are not diseases, they can be serious and could put a real damper on your vacation. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this is especially true when dealing with the sun. Remember that the sun’s rays in the tropics are more intense between noon and three p.m. as well as at high altitudes, even if it’s an overcast or cloudy day.

What can you do to prevent getting a sunburn?

Usually, the lighter or fairer your skin, the easier you can get sunburned. Even clouds offer little or no protection from a severe sunburn, so why take a chance of ruining your holidays when getting a painful, serious sunburn is easy to protect against? To prevent getting a bad sunburn, particularly if you sunburn easily, use a high SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of 30, or stronger. Use the sunscreen liberally, wear wide-brimmed sun hats, use UVA & UVB protection certified sunglasses, and wear a long-sleeved shirt and slacks. It’s best to try and stay out of the sun between noon and three in the afternoon. Build up exposure to the sun slowly, day by day. Try and limit the length of time you spend in the sun to around fifteen minutes the first day, and gradually increase your time in the sun on subsequent days.

What can you do to treat a severe sunburn?

You can ease the pain of a sunburn if you soak in a cool bath three to four times every day. If you add baking soda to your bath, it will help even more. Cool showers may hurt too much, and not be as soothing or effective as cool, relaxing baths. To help with any headaches, or pain and swelling, take an aspirin or other pain medication such as Ibuprofen or Advil. It may not be a good idea to take any aspirin based pain medications if you are on a blood thinner or have an ulcer. If you’re not sure about taking these pain relievers, check with a doctor or pharmacist. Avoid dehydration by drinking at least six to eight glasses of water per day. Do not break any blisters if you can avoid it. Any broken blister can easily get infected, particularly in the humid climate of the tropics. Wash them gently with soap and warm water if they happen to break.

If your sunburn does not appear to be getting better and you still have pain after a couple of days, you develop a high temperature or fever, have a splitting headache that won’t go away, are vomiting or have diarrhea, feel dizzy or confused, or your eyes hurt and light bothers them, you must seek medical attention immediately.

How can you prevent heat exhaustion?

Heat exhaustion is completely preventable. Wearing a wide-brimmed sunhat, drinking lots of liquids, and staying out of intense heat and humidity will help you avoid this serious problem.

What should you do if you have the symptoms of heat exhaustion?

Heat exhaustion is caused by a combination of very high temperatures and humidity. This may result in the loss of fluids from your body through excess sweating. These fluids must be quickly replaced or heat exhaustion can result.

The symptoms include headache, fatigue, lethargy, giddiness, and muscle cramps. The treatment is to immediately move out of the sun or heat and drink plenty of liquids, preferably commercial beverages containing electrolytes, such as Gatorade. Do not drink any alcohol as this will make your condition worse.

If you do not feel better and show positive signs of recovery in a very short period of time, have someone take you to a hospital immediately as your condition could quickly progress into a true medical emergency, heatstroke.

What actions must you immediately take if you get heat stroke?

If heat exhaustion is not successfully treated immediately, it can result in a critical medical emergency. Heatstroke is characterized by an extremely high body temperature of 102 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39 to 41 degrees Centigrade. There is a cessation of sweating. The main symptoms of heatstroke include a flushed, red skin, a bad headache, confusion which can quickly progress into delirium and convulsions, which can then be fatal.

Note: Someone must help you by quickly taking you out of the sun or heat and rushing you to a hospital immediately.

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