NEW THINGS ABOUT SUNBURN.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 17 April 1914, Page 2

NEW THINGS ABOUT SUNBURN.

(By Dr. L. K. HIRSHP.ERG.)

Some recent experiments concerning the action of the sun on the human skin, together with preven- ! tives and remedies for these burns, ; have brought to light much that is'j mew ani interesting concerning sunburn, under various conditions.; Experiments in Algiers were made by Surgeon-Major Nuramoncl de Laroguette, of the French Army, and he was awarded , a medical prize by the government for his successful work along these lines. It has long \ been known that the sun's rays set up various reactions in the skin, according to the quality, the intensity and the duration of your exposure to the sun. The rasults of strong sunshine, and if the sun's effects on areas of skin of various parts of the body exposed to the open air or behind glass screens differ with people according to their complexions, their general health, and their skin. 1 In the open air—in man—exposure of from thirty to forty minutes to the sun gave rise to slight flashy redness, accompanied by a little sweating. This redness made " its appearance after fifteen to twenty minutes' exposure, and soon subsided. It only occurs when the temperature exceeds ninety degrees. It is a redness which appears to be due quite as much to contact with heated air as to the direct action of the heat rays of the sun. Toward the second hour after exposure a secondary redness began to make its appearance and underwent gradual development during the remainder of the day ; ; already well marked by the fourth hour, it reached its maximum toward the twelfth hour. At this stage the hue was uniformly bright red, but pressure with the finger drove the blood out of the dilated veins and capillaries, leaving a white mark. Twenty-four hours later this was no longer the case ; there was more, or less discolouration under the skin with red spots about the colour of wine dregs. In the course of the next four days this discolouration became much darker, and each succeeding day for three weeks the skin became browner and browner. The* skins that were most red at first were the ones that afterwards became the darkest. This dark colour persisted for a variable lapse of time, fron* ! several weeks to several months, according to the severity and the number of exposures to sunlight. It' then faded and slowly disappeared. In a series of experiments parts of skin were exposed to the sun after being variously tinted with water colours : violet, blue, green, red, black and brown, the colours being well marked and of medium depth, but having no thickness.' Under violet and blue the reactions were approximately as pronounced as in the open air. In the other parts the redness was rather less pronounced, though still well marked. With the different colours, even under < the blue and violet, the redness was very trifling ; when the colour was dark and thick it formed a protective varnish on the epidermis. Colour bands alternatively light and dark, with and without thickness, yielded zones of redness, which differ greatly and were well marked or very slight. In spite of the artificial colouration of the skin, the redness ran its course thereafter toward pigmentation much the same as in the open air, with an intensity proportional to the amount of the redness. ' Under window glass the secondary redness is not so great and appears slowly; it requires^ sittings/lasting at least sixty 'minutes, in a strong sun to produce slight redness. The dark brown colour is also much less marked and of shorter duration. | Under the different coloured glasses marked differences were noted; under the yellow, red, blue, and violet glasses the primary erythema was about equal to that met with under window glass. Under the black or smoked and green glasses is less marked than under window glass when the latter is kept at a small distance from- the skin, more prosiouncM on the contrary when the glass is in contact. j The final series of tests were made to find a cure or some preventive for sunburn. When water is kept in contact with the skin in a very thin layer, the skin became sunburned even more quickly than in dry air. Glycerine applied in the same way helped only a little in preventing the sunburn ; but olive oil, vaseline, cold cream, wool fat and oils, or fats in general, all, whether in ointment form or plain, almost entirely prevented any development whatsoever of the redness, the browning, ,the blisters, or any signs of sunburn. The treatment of sunburn then, according to these new discoveries, is not only to anoint your skin with vaseiine or olive oil before encountering the sun's, rays, but also to use fatty and oily unguents for the relief and treatment of sunburn, once it has developed. Ca.rbolated vaseline or oil, salicylic acid ointments, calamine lotion and other such simple remedies should be among the equipment of everyone venturing forth on a- Summer's afternoon or a longer holiday at the seashore or the countryside. Experiments made on severe sunburn proved of unusual interest. It w:'s ''"iind that tender skin subjected to powerful sun's rays i,iii-1; "iioiiL the day and repeated nnc. or more days resulted in such

burns that large blisters, as large as shilling and two-shilling pieces, would appear on the skin, while the soreness had the same sensation as would follow on being badly burned by hot liquids. In a party of young fellows starting camping out and going about during the day in the hot sun wearing only sleeveless jerseys, some of them were prepared for the sunburn by means of rubbing them in uarbolated vaseline. The result was that they had no blisters, nor even suHieient redness of the skin to make themselves uncomfortable, while the others, who, in the experiment, went about without this on their skins were severely sunburned. People with only a couple of weeks' vacation who wish to layabout on the shore or paddle canoes with shoulders and arms bared will save themselves a great deal of suffering with just such a simple precaution as covering themselves wherever exposed with the vaseline. Generally only the top of the nose really "peels" from siuiburn, and by keeping carbolated vaseline 'on the nose even this disagreeable | trouble can be avoided.