SUNBURN GRADUALLY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 484, 13 October 1928, Page 28

SUNBURN GRADUALLY

BENEFITS OF TAN WARNING FOR BATHERS Summer is not yef with us, but occasional short spells of fine weather have led even the most pessimistic to agree that “sprig is gubbin.’ ” It cannot- be too earjy to give a word of warning to would-be bathers on the necessity .of acquiring sunburn only gradually. Peeling noses and scarlet shoulders tell their own story on Monday mornings in summer, says the “New York Times.” It is no use asking their proud, and oftentimes uncomfortable, possessors whether they have spent the week-end near or in the ocean. In this season office boys and girls take on the colour of a sunrise- in the Alps, while the chorus girls wear their tanning decolletes almost as if they were the badge cf their profession. The scant costumes that originated on the golden “plages” of Deauville and the Lido have become the fashiou, one might almost say the uniform, of the bathers along our shores. Abroad, when not in the water, their wearers don a light wrap or pyjamas when they sit and sprawl on the sands. Not so here. Youth likes its tan too well, and bathing suits are put on frequently for the purpose of getting a sun bath, not for an ocean bath. Chemists are prepared to care for tortured shoulders and arms, for though the beach habitues have learned their lesson, there are always occasional trippers who have not. On the whole bathers are careful about over-expo-sure to the heat of the sun, but even so many a healthy-looking tan is bought at the price of hours of painful burning and itching. A sunburn is ilterally what its name implies. The action of the ultraviolet, or invisible, rays of the sunlight causes the sunburn that injures and destroys some of the living cells of the body covering. Within a reasonable degree the effect of the sunburn is healing and strength-giving. Too much exposure may, however, be injurious. Sunburn Can Cause Death It is an old saying among doctors that if three-quarters of the skin area is burned death will in all probability result. So extensivb a sunburn ist rare. Illness and considerable discomfort, on the other hand, are uot at all uncommon. The breaking down of a large area of tissues throws toxins into the system, thus poisoning the body. This is practically what happens in all cases of burning by extreme heat. Sunburn taken in homeopathic instead of allopathic doses is regarded as of immense benefit. Under these conditions nature protects herself and layer by layer puts on a coat of tan until ultimately the pigmentn tion has increased to such an extent that the sun’s rays are unable to do damage. In tropical and semi-tropical countries the "white-skinned” men and women from colder climes are apt to succumb more easily to the penetration of the ultra-violet rays than they do in the North. Above all, they do realise the swiftness of the tropic sun’s action. In some hospitals of the West Indies doctors have prepared a type of harness that is attached under the armpits. By means of this they can keep the victims of the sun whose bodies are so burned that they cannot recline suspended in an upright position until they are healed. Though the sun can be so ruthless, its benefits are of such value to mankind that scientists have succeeded in artificially reproducing the ultra-violet ray. Artificial sunlight treatment is being increasingly used by physicians, who find that its effects are undeniably beneficial.