Sun poisoning is a severe sunburn that goes beyond simple redness and tenderness, often bringing blisters, swelling, nausea, fever, chills, or headache. You can treat most cases at home with aggressive cooling, hydration, and the right topical products, though the recovery timeline stretches longer than an ordinary sunburn. While mild sunburn symptoms typically start fading after about three days, sun poisoning symptoms last longer and are more intense.
Cool Your Skin Immediately and Often
The single most important first step is getting your skin temperature down. Apply a clean towel dampened with cool tap water to the affected areas for about 10 minutes, and repeat this several times throughout the day. A cool bath also works well. Adding about 2 ounces (roughly 60 grams) of baking soda to the bathwater can help soothe inflammation. Avoid ice or ice-cold water directly on the burn, which can further damage already-injured skin.
Between cool compresses, keep the skin moisturized. Aloe vera gel or lotion and calamine lotion are both effective at calming the burning sensation. For an extra layer of relief, refrigerate your aloe vera or moisturizer before applying it. Stick with water-based lotions. Petroleum jelly and other heavy, oil-based products should be avoided on severe sunburns because they trap heat in the skin and can slow healing.
What to Put on Your Skin (and What to Avoid)
For the inflamed, painful areas without blisters, a nonprescription 1% hydrocortisone cream applied three times a day for three days can reduce swelling and discomfort. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory pain relievers like ibuprofen also help with both pain and inflammation when taken by mouth.
There are a few products you should actively avoid. Anything containing alcohol will dry out and further irritate damaged skin. Numbing sprays and creams containing benzocaine (often labeled with “-caine” in the name) may seem tempting, but they carry a real risk of allergic reactions and have been linked to a rare but serious condition that reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of your blood. Skip them entirely.
How to Handle Blisters
Blisters are common with sun poisoning and can be alarming, but your instinct to pop them is the wrong one. An intact blister acts as a natural sterile bandage, protecting the raw skin underneath while it heals. Leave them alone as long as they stay intact.
If a blister breaks on its own, carefully trim away the dead skin with clean, small scissors. Gently wash the area with mild soap and water, apply an antibiotic ointment, and cover it with a nonstick bandage. This prevents infection while the new skin underneath finishes forming. Change the bandage daily and watch for signs of infection: increasing redness spreading beyond the burn area, pus, worsening pain, or red streaks moving away from the wound.
Stay Ahead of Dehydration
Severe sunburn pulls fluid toward the skin’s surface and away from the rest of your body. This is why sun poisoning often comes with headaches, dizziness, and fatigue that feel out of proportion to “just a sunburn.” Drink extra water for at least a full day beyond what you’d normally consume. If you’re experiencing nausea or vomiting alongside your burn, take small, frequent sips rather than trying to drink large amounts at once.
Signs that dehydration is becoming a problem include dark urine, dry mouth, feeling lightheaded when you stand up, and producing very little urine. These symptoms on top of a severe burn mean your body is struggling to cope, and you may need medical attention for IV fluids.
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
Sun poisoning doesn’t resolve in a day or two. The acute phase, with the worst pain, swelling, and heat, typically lasts several days longer than an ordinary sunburn. During the first 24 to 48 hours, symptoms often continue to worsen even after you’re out of the sun, which catches many people off guard. The redness and pain generally peak around day two or three.
After the acute inflammation begins to subside, expect peeling. With sun poisoning, the peeling can be extensive and may continue for a week or more. Resist the urge to pull or pick at peeling skin, as this can tear healthy skin underneath and increase the risk of scarring. Keep the area moisturized with gentle, fragrance-free lotion to ease the peeling process. The new skin underneath will be more sensitive to the sun for weeks afterward, so keep it covered or protected with sunscreen whenever you go outside.
When Sun Poisoning Needs Medical Care
Most sun poisoning, while miserable, resolves with home care. But certain symptoms signal that your body needs more help than cool compresses can provide. A fever over 101°F (38.3°C), confusion, fainting, or severe vomiting that prevents you from keeping fluids down all warrant a trip to urgent care or the emergency room. The same goes for blisters that cover a large portion of your body, burns on an infant or very young child, or signs of infection in blistered areas.
Sun poisoning that covers more than about 15 to 20 percent of your body surface (roughly the equivalent of your entire back, or both legs) is treated similarly to a partial-thickness burn and may require professional wound care with sterile dressings and prescription antimicrobial ointments. If the burned area is large and you’re feeling systemically unwell, with chills, high fever, and significant swelling, that’s your body telling you the damage is beyond what home remedies can manage.