After-sun care

Time in strong sun leaves skin hot, dehydrated and inflamed even when no burn is visible. After-sun care aims at comfort and recovery: cool rather than cold showers, a bland, water-rich moisturiser with humectants such as glycerin, drinking enough fluids, and staying out of further sun while the skin settles.

It is worth being clear about the limits. Sunburn is an inflammatory injury, and the underlying UV damage to DNA and collagen has already happened by the time skin turns red; no lotion reverses it. What good after-sun care can do is reduce the tightness, itching and peeling that follow, and stop you compounding the irritation.

Pause exfoliating acids, retinoids and scrubs until skin is calm, skip fragrance and menthol on broken skin, and do not pick at peeling. Seek medical advice for blistering, burns over a large area, fever, chills, dizziness or confusion, for burns in young children, and for any mole or patch that changes after a summer. Prevention — shade, clothing, reapplied sunscreen — stays the only real protection.