Sun poisoning is a severe sunburn that causes whole-body symptoms like fever, chills, nausea, and blistering, and it needs more aggressive care than a regular sunburn. The most important first steps are getting out of the sun immediately, cooling your skin, and drinking fluids with electrolytes. Depending on severity, you may be able to manage it at home or you may need medical attention.
How Sun Poisoning Differs From Sunburn
A mild sunburn gives you red, painful skin that feels hot to the touch and typically fades within three days. Sun poisoning goes further. It starts with an intense red rash and can progress to blisters, severe swelling, and systemic symptoms: headache, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. The blisters indicate a second-degree burn, meaning damage has reached the deeper layers of your skin. Recovery from a second-degree sunburn can take weeks rather than days.
It’s worth noting that “sun poisoning” sometimes refers to a separate condition called polymorphous light eruption (PMLE), which is an allergic reaction to sunlight rather than a burn. PMLE produces a bumpy, itchy rash that can appear even after modest sun exposure. If you get a rash from the sun regularly, even on cloudy days or through windows, that’s worth bringing up with a dermatologist, since the treatment approach is different.
Cool Your Skin Right Away
Get out of the sun and into a cool environment as soon as you notice symptoms worsening beyond a typical burn. Then start cooling your skin. Take a cool (not cold) bath or shower, or apply clean towels dampened with cool tap water to the burned areas. Adding about 2 ounces of baking soda to a bath can help soothe inflammation. Aim for about 10 minutes of cooling at a time, repeated several times throughout the day.
Avoid ice or very cold water directly on the skin. Your body is already stressed, and a sudden temperature shock can make things worse. Cool and gentle is the goal.
Hydrate Aggressively
Severe sunburn pulls fluid toward the surface of your skin, which can leave the rest of your body dehydrated. You’re also likely losing essential salts like sodium and potassium, especially if you’ve been sweating in the heat. Water alone won’t replace those. Sports drinks or oral rehydration solutions (like Pedialyte for children) are better choices because they restore both fluid and electrolyte balance. Drink steadily rather than gulping large amounts at once, and keep it up for at least 24 to 48 hours after your symptoms start improving.
Manage Pain and Inflammation
Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory pain relievers like ibuprofen or naproxen can help reduce both pain and the inflammatory response driving your symptoms. Take them as directed on the packaging. Starting early, ideally within the first few hours, tends to make a bigger difference than waiting until the pain peaks, which usually happens around 24 hours after the burn.
For your skin, plain aloe vera gel is one of the safest topical options. It cools the area and supports healing without trapping heat. Avoid creams or lotions that feel heavy or greasy, since these can seal heat into the skin and slow recovery.
Avoid Numbing Sprays and Creams
It’s tempting to reach for a spray or cream containing lidocaine or benzocaine to numb the pain. This is one of the most common mistakes with sun poisoning. When these numbing agents are applied over large areas of irritated or broken skin, your body absorbs far more of the drug than intended. The FDA warns that this can lead to irregular heartbeat, seizures, and breathing difficulties. The risk climbs even higher if you cover the treated skin with clothing or bandages, which increases absorption. Stick with aloe and oral pain relievers instead.
How to Handle Blisters
If your skin blisters, leave them intact. Blisters are your body’s natural bandage, protecting the raw skin underneath from infection. Popping them opens a direct path for bacteria. If a blister breaks on its own, gently clean the area with mild soap and water, then cover it loosely with a clean, non-stick bandage.
Watch for signs of infection in the days that follow: increasing redness that spreads beyond the original burn, pus or cloudy fluid, worsening pain after it had been improving, or red streaks radiating outward from the area. An infected blister needs medical treatment.
When You Need Medical Care
Most sun poisoning can be managed at home with cooling, hydration, and anti-inflammatories. But some cases cross a line where home care isn’t enough. Get medical attention if your symptoms keep getting worse despite treatment, or if you develop any of the following:
- Fever above 103°F (39.4°C), especially with vomiting
- Confusion or disorientation
- Cold, clammy skin combined with dizziness or faintness
- Eye pain or vision changes
- Signs of dehydration that don’t improve with fluids, like very dark urine, dry mouth, or lightheadedness when standing
These can indicate heat stroke, severe dehydration, or a burn serious enough to require hospital care. Treatment at that stage may include IV fluids to restore hydration quickly or prescription corticosteroid creams to control severe inflammation. In the most serious cases, hospital admission is necessary.
What Recovery Looks Like
Pain from sun poisoning typically starts within a few hours of the burn and peaks around the 24-hour mark. After that, it gradually eases. Over the next week or so, your skin will begin to peel as damaged cells shed and new skin forms underneath. For a first-degree burn, this whole process wraps up in about a week. A second-degree burn with blistering can take several weeks to fully heal.
During recovery, keep the burned skin moisturized with gentle, fragrance-free lotion once the acute heat has faded and blisters have healed. Stay completely out of the sun until your skin has returned to normal. New skin forming under a peel is extremely sensitive and will burn much faster than usual. Loose, soft clothing over affected areas will reduce irritation and protect against further UV exposure.
Some people notice changes in skin pigmentation after a severe burn, with patches appearing lighter or darker than surrounding skin. This usually resolves over weeks to months but can occasionally persist. A severe blistering sunburn also significantly raises your long-term risk of skin cancer in that area, making it worth monitoring for any new or changing spots in the years ahead.