Sun poisoning is a severe sunburn that goes beyond red, tender skin into territory that includes blistering, swelling, nausea, fever, and chills. Getting rid of it means aggressively managing pain and inflammation in the first 24 hours, protecting damaged skin as it heals, and replacing the fluids your body is losing through the burn. Most cases resolve at home within one to two weeks, but second-degree burns with deep blistering can take several weeks and sometimes need medical treatment.
Cool the Skin Right Away
The single most important first step is pulling heat out of your skin. Apply a clean towel dampened with cool tap water to the burned areas for about 10 minutes, and repeat this several times throughout the day. A cool bath works too. Avoid ice or ice-cold water directly on the skin, which can cause further damage to tissue that’s already injured. The goal is to interrupt the inflammatory cascade that peaks around 24 hours after UV exposure.
After cooling, apply a pure aloe vera gel or a moisturizer without fragrance or alcohol. Aloe vera has reasonable clinical support: a review of four studies covering 371 patients found that aloe vera shortened wound healing time by nearly nine days compared to conventional treatments. Look for products with a high percentage of actual aloe rather than aloe-scented lotions, which often contain alcohol that dries and irritates burned skin.
Manage Pain and Inflammation
Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory painkillers like ibuprofen or naproxen do double duty here. They reduce pain and help tamp down the inflammation driving redness and swelling. Take them as directed on the package, and start as early as possible. The inflammatory response peaks at about 24 hours after the burn, so getting ahead of it matters. Acetaminophen helps with pain but won’t address the inflammation itself.
You might instinctively reach for a hydrocortisone cream, but topical steroids applied after UV exposure have not been shown to provide clinical benefit. Save your money on those. If the burn is severe enough, a doctor may prescribe a short course of oral steroids, which can shorten the duration of pain and inflammation when started early. These are typically used for only a few days and don’t require a gradual taper. However, oral steroids are avoided when blisters are present because they increase infection risk.
Hydrate Aggressively
Sunburned skin draws fluid to the surface, which is why severe burns cause swelling and blisters. This fluid loss, combined with the dehydration that often comes from a long day in the sun, can leave you feeling dizzy, nauseated, and exhausted. Drink water and electrolyte beverages steadily for the first few days. If you’re vomiting or can’t keep fluids down, that’s a sign you may need intravenous fluids at an urgent care or emergency room.
Handle Blisters Carefully
Blisters mean the burn has reached the deeper layer of your skin, making it a second-degree burn. Leave blisters intact whenever possible. That fluid-filled dome is a natural sterile bandage protecting raw skin underneath. If a blister pops on its own, gently clean the area with mild soap and water, apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly or an antibiotic ointment, and cover it with a non-stick bandage. Change the dressing daily. Watch for signs of infection: increasing redness spreading outward from the blister, pus, warmth, or worsening pain after the first couple of days.
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
Pain starts within a few hours of the burn and gets worse before it gets better, peaking around the 24-hour mark. Redness and irritation intensify during this window too, so don’t be alarmed if you look worse the morning after.
For a first-degree burn (red, painful, no blisters), expect healing within a few days to a week. Your skin will peel as damaged cells shed, and the area should gradually return to its normal color. Resist the urge to pick at peeling skin, which can cause scarring or introduce bacteria.
Second-degree burns with blisters take significantly longer, often several weeks. The new skin underneath is fragile and highly sensitive to UV light, so keep it covered or protected with sunscreen once the wound has closed. Sun-damaged skin that re-burns during healing is more likely to scar.
When Sun Poisoning Needs Medical Attention
Most sun poisoning is miserable but manageable at home. Seek medical care if you develop blisters along with any of the following: bright red or oozing skin, severe pain that isn’t controlled by over-the-counter medication, fever, feeling extremely cold or shivering, headache, or nausea and vomiting. These symptoms suggest your body is mounting a systemic response to the burn, not just a local skin reaction.
Children, older adults, and people with large areas of blistering are at higher risk for complications like dehydration and secondary infection. A doctor can assess whether you need IV fluids, wound care, or monitoring.
Preventing Repeat Episodes
Some people experience sun poisoning not as a one-time severe burn but as a recurring allergic-type reaction to sunlight called polymorphous light eruption, or PMLE. This shows up as an itchy rash, small bumps, or raised patches on sun-exposed skin, often in spring or early summer when your skin hasn’t seen much UV light in months.
If this sounds familiar, there are effective options beyond just avoiding the sun. Phototherapy sessions given in early spring, before outdoor season begins, can “harden” the skin against flare-ups for the rest of summer. Studies have found this approach controls outbreaks in up to 90% of patients. A topical cream containing a vitamin D derivative, applied before sun exposure, reduced PMLE symptoms by about 32% in a small trial. Antioxidant-containing sunscreens with certain plant-derived compounds have also shown promise, with only one patient out of a treated group developing PMLE signs compared to 62% of those using a placebo.
For standard sun poisoning from overexposure, prevention is straightforward but easy to underestimate. Reapply sunscreen every two hours and immediately after swimming or sweating. Seek shade during peak UV hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and wear protective clothing. If you burned badly enough to search for this article, your threshold for damage is lower than you assumed, and next time won’t require as much exposure to cause the same reaction.