Most folk remedies against sunburn are ineffective and might exacerbate inflammation, Chi Mei Medical Center department of dermatology doctor Cheng Pai-shan (鄭百珊) said.
Using aloe vera to soothe burns and relieve pain, or using cucumber slices to rehydrate the skin, might cause contact dermatitis, Cheng said.
Minute amounts of photosensitive matter in aloe vera and cucumber might also increase the absorption of ultraviolet rays by the skin, she added.
Cheng suggested using aloe or cucumber extracts instead of directly applying the plants to the injured area.
Ointments such as Tiger Balm or Mentholatum are mistakenly perceived as effective treatments for burnt skin and as soothing inflammation due to the “cooling” effect of the products, Cheng said.
The cooling effect stems primarily from menthol contained in the products, and their application to sunburnt skin will not only increase irritation, but might also hamper the dissipation of heat through pores, Cheng said.
The best treatment for sunburn is to help skin cool using compresses made from towels soaked in cold water, she said, adding that the dissipation of heat will not only slow down inflammation, but will also soothe the pain.
Using anti-inflammatory ointments would be the next step if only a small area is affected, Cheng said, adding that people should see a dermatologist for large sunburns.
People can also apply moisturizer to the burnt area, Cheng said, adding that exfoliating products should not be used to help the inflamed skin repair itself.
Cheng said people should wear long-sleeved clothing and use parasols to prevent sunburn.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching