PERILS OF SUMMER SUN

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4908, 27 November 1925, Page 4

PERILS OF SUMMER SUN

SUNBURN “NOT UNDERSTOOD? DANGEROUS IN EXCESS. A warm bath is all right; blit not one in boiling water. Similarly, a “sunbath” is invigorating, but in excess it may be injurious, or even fatal.. A warning (quoted by the “Literary Digest”) is issued by Dr. C. F. Pabst in “Po-pular Science Monthly” (New York, August). One night last summer. Dr. Pabst tells us, he was called to attend one of the worst cases of sunburn he had ever seen. The patient was ,a young man who had spent the day at a bathing beach, and, like many persons whose opportunities for outings are few, had made the most of his .time, remaining in his bathing suit for hours under the broiling mid-summer sUn. He waspaying for his indiscretion. His face was fire-red and swollen. His' arms, shouldens, and legs literally were scorched, just as if he had exposed his naked body to the heat of a blast furnace. His eyes 1 were narrow slits. He was nauseated and had a high fever? He screamed with pain when the doctor attempted to treat him. We read further.

“For three days he remained in bed, deathly ill and scarcely able to move. His was an extreme case, and yet it was typical of thousands of others that come within my own and other iskin specialists’ experience every summer. For few persons seem to realise that a severe case of sunburn actually is a dangerous affliction that causes not only excruciating pain, but may permanently affect the health, cause chronic skin diseases, and even result in death. “So little do people understand sunburn that they often martyrise themselves by deliberately burning their skins, not for the beneficial effects of sunlight, but to acquire a ‘coat of tan.’

“An office worker goes to the beach for a week-end. He decides to get a ‘good coat of fan,’ and impress his fellow-workers .on Monday morning. He gets the tan, but doesn’t appear on Monday morning. He is in bed. The statistics' of hours lost from; work on account of sunburn, if such records were available, I am sure would be amazing. In fact, a tanned is no index pf health. A bronzed skin may cover the most serious of body disorders.

‘‘January and February in the Southern Hemisphere are the dangerout months fpr sunburn, for. then the ■sun delivers the most ultra-violet light, the invisible part of sunshine that burns the skin.

“Ultra-violet light, we recently have discovered, helps cure many ills. It is especially beneficial in treating skin diseases, such as acne and ezeema. But while it is good for us to be in the sunshine, out of dbors, the danger lies in getting to large a dose pf ultra-violet light in a single exposure.

: “Sunburn is, caused when ultraviolet light is stopped in the skin cells. The light causes a chemical change. A poison is manufactured that enters the blood, causing fever and. headache. The chemical burn kills the skin. Some of this, dead skill has to be absorbed by the blood, and this, process adds to the poisoning. “AU .this means extra work for the blood. Large supplies of blood rush to the burned surfaces with considerable disturbance of the circulatory system. This may be followed by congestion of the lungs and inflammation of the kidneys.

“The heat of sunshine has nothing to do with the burning. You can prove this for yourself. Expose your arm to a 90-degree temperature before a fireplace, or immerse it in hot water. The skin reddens, but the redness disappears when the heat is removed. Expose your arm”in direct sunlight of the same temperature for two or three hours, .and you will receive a bum lasting for days. “You probably have noticed that you have suffered your worst burns, while you were on water in a boat. That is because water reflects ultraviolet light, and this reaches your face and eyes, even if they are protected from direct rays of the sun by a hat .

“One of the best and simplest treatments for shock from sunburn is to get into a tub of luke-warm water, into which a pound of bicarbonate of soda has been dissolved. A physician always should be called, since heart stimulants may be required to prevent collapse. Any sort of fat helps to soothe sunburn. Either lard or butter can be used in an emergency.”