What You Need To Know About Children And Sunburn

What is a sunburn? Are we taking its effects lightly? Dr Sam Hay explains how to protect our kids’ sensitive skin beyond slip, slop and slap and what to do if they do get sunburnt.

For some cultures, especially Aussies, that little tinge of red, that ‘healthy summer glow’, may all seem innocent and sweet, but it’s not. With sunburn, it does irreparable damage to the skin, which adds up over time.

While we in Singapore do not typically get regular tans, we carry on with outdoor activities and the sweltering sun does get on our skin quite the same too.

In fact, Singapore is known as one of the world’s highest ultraviolet (UV) index scores, and children in Singapore are likely to be exposed to high levels of UV radiation, representing a variety of skin types.

As parents, we need to work hard to protect our kids’ skin—but sometimes there’s only so much we can do. So rather than judge, let us step through the sunburn basics and work on minimising risk to our kids skin as much as possible.

What is a sunburn?

It’s estimated that over a third of Aussies have been sunburnt in the last twelve months – that’s massive! 

Sunburn results from damage to the skin by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. It’s around us every day, and it’s something you can’t see or feel. It reflects off surfaces, especially sand, water and snow. It even passes through clouds, fooling parents on cloudy days.

Basically, sunburn is damaged and inflamed skin. It means you’ve been exposed to more UV radiation than the skin can handle. Our skin’s defences against the sun are mainly made up of melanin, a pigment that absorbs the damaging radiation and gives our skin colour.

Ultimately you can blame your mum and dad for how badly you burn (or how easily you tan), because we all produce different amounts of melanin, and it’s all determined by genetics.

The less melanin we have in our skin, the greater the inflammatory reaction, and therefore more red, swollen, and painful skin – the sunburn. Put simply, the fairer (paler) you are, the more chance of quick fire sunburns.

But that doesn’t mean people with darker skin can’t get sun damage! Everyone is at risk from the sun.

UV Index is a factor

Log in to any news website and you’ll find weather forecasts, which stretch way beyond max temperatures for the day. Sure, hotter days generally come with more sunburn risk, but the key is actually the UV index – so pay closer attention to that.

It’s easy: the higher the index – the faster your skin will burn.

Fast fact: you can get burnt on overcast days as up to 80 per cent of UV rays pass through clouds.

Watch the clock

The time it takes to cause sunburn varies with a number of factors:

• Skin type. Fairer skin burns faster.
• Time of day. UV radiation tends to peak through the middle of the day.
• Time of year. UV radiation varies through the year. But that doesn’t mean there’s no risk in winter.
• Where you are. UV radiation reflects off surfaces like water, sand, cement, and snow. It bounces all around us, so just because the kids have hats on or sit under the umbrella, they’re still at risk.

Stages of sunburn

Once sun exposure causes any redness, there’s inflammation within the top epidermis layer of skin – which is akin to the old term of a ‘first-degree’ burn.

This redness usually starts glowing within a couple of hours, and will continue to develop for the next couple of days. The redness comes from increased blood flow, which makes the skin swollen, tender, and hot to touch.

More significant burns may cause the skin to peel. After the inflammation settles, the deeper skin cells rapidly grow to replace the dead cells of the top layer. This leads to large sheets of the top dead cells peeling away.

Increase that UV exposure and blisters will occur – a superficial partial-thickness burn, or even deep partial-thickness when catastrophic. Now parents, these are bad burns. They aren’t a right of passage. They aren’t something to let your kids experience just because you did.

So what, it’s just a little sunburn…

This is exactly the attitude that needs changing in Australia, as well as in many parts of the world. You see, it all comes down to skin cancer risk. And the more sun burns our kids have – the higher their future risk.

In a nutshell, all that damage and inflammation to the skin permanently alters the DNA of skin cells, which can ultimately lead to cancers. Some might be the simple basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), or even the most dangerous melanomas.

Fast facts:

• Five or more sun burns doubles your risk of developing melanoma.
• But only one blistering burn is needed to double the risk – that’s scary!

Babies are extra special

A baby’s skin is ridiculously sensitive and will easily burn. In fact, the risk of sunburn and future skin cancer is so high, it’s recommended that babies are NEVER exposed to sun before their first birthday, or at least the first six months. 

They should be constantly cared for in the shade, and if they are out and about, covered up with long pants, sleeves, hats, and sunscreen on any exposed areas.

And parents, if you ask any good doctor and dermatologist – these rules are non-negotiable.

From time-to-time I do put my grumpy-doctor hat on and get a little (shall I say) ‘firm’ with parents who have roasted their kids out in the sun. But it comes from a place of parental (and doctorly!) guilt – we’ve all been there.

So it goes without saying, we should never let our kids get sun burnt at all. Every one of our kids who step outside should slip on some clothes, slap on a hat, slop on some sunscreen, slide on some sunnies, and seek out that shade.