Feelin' the Burn!

This has been the summer of sunburns for Jakeb. He says he's using sunscreen and I have no reason to not believe him. Maybe he's just not using it often enough or we're using the wrong kind. I'm a bargain hunter all the way but I don't skimp on suncreen. I'm about to resort to making him wear straw hats and and long-sleeved tshirts here pretty soon! I think his first burn, on a school field trip, was due to the combination of fresh white skin with a high UV index and outdated sunscreen.

He's got a pretty bad one right now from yesterdays trip to Schlitterbahn with our church's student ministry. I've fussed at him pretty bad for the last ones but I didn't have the heart this time. He'll be suffering his own consequences over the next few days. He told me I couldn't put a picture of him up. (Yes, I wanted to - does that make me a bad mom?) But thought it would be okay to post about it at least for educational purposes and when you see him, it's not like you aren't going to know. For weeks now, he'll either be red or shedding like a snake. Anyway, he said he put on sunscreen three times and we know it's one that works because we used it all last week while at my sister's house and he swam every day, all day long. He's as red as a lobster!

I am fair-skinned also and have had my share of sunburns. I'm pretty sure that I will have to deal with skin cancer at some point but we didn't know (back in the day). We know more now and as a parent, it's hard to think that my kids might have to go through stuff when they're older because of something that could have been prevented.

This morning, I dug around on webmd (great tool, btw) trying to find some untried relief options for Jakeb and I found some interesting facts about the long term effects of sunburns. Here's a clip but you can go to this link and read the whole page if you like.

Long-term problems include:
An increased chance of having skin cancer.
An increase in the number of cold sores.
An increase in problems related to a health condition, such as lupus.
Cataracts, from not protecting your eyes from direct or indirect sunlight over many years. Cataracts are one of the leading causes of blindness.
Skin changes, such as premature wrinkling or brown spots.

Interesting, huh? I had no idea that sunburns were tied to lupus. I'm also going to pay more attention to wearing sunglasses more often.

Just for fun: My red-headed, fair-skinned cousin wore a shirt recently that said "pale is the new tan". I like that...