The accompanying symptoms

In the case of sunburn, symptoms are perceived that are typical of inflammation. These include reddening, swelling, warming, itching, pain and increased sensitivity to touch at the affected area. In more severe cases, blistering or even detachment of the top layer of skin may also occur.

Since sunburn is caused by excessive exposure to sunlight, other symptoms such as sunstroke or sun allergy may occur in the affected child. Reddening of the skin is a typical symptom that occurs early on and can also be observed in mild sunburn. The development of reddened skin is comparable to an inflammation: By messenger substances of the damaged cells, the blood vessels are moved further.

This mechanism is intended to ensure that more cells of the immune system reach the damaged body part and eliminate the trigger of the inflammatory reaction as quickly as possible. As a result of the increased blood circulation, the skin in the area affected by the sunburn reddens. Another typical symptom of sunburn is pain in the affected area.

This can be permanent or can be triggered by touching the affected area, which is not actually painful. This is caused by the inflammatory messenger substances released by damaged body cells. On the one hand, they cause the blood vessels to dilate, but on the other hand they also sensitize the pain receptors of the skin.This makes it easier to trigger the pain stimulus.

If this threshold drops so low, no trigger is needed at all. The result is a “continuous fire”, so to speak, which is perceived by the person concerned as a persistent pain. Due to the sunlight-induced damage to the skin cells, blisters form after some time.

These are caused by the detachment of the uppermost skin layer, under which fluid collects. This fluid in turn leaks from small blood vessels, as these have been dilated by the inflammatory reaction. This mechanism is intended to ensure that, in the event of tissue damage, blood platelets and immune cells can enter the damaged tissue from the blood vessel as quickly as possible.

Along with the cells, however, blood plasma also escapes, which collects as fluid under the skin and lifts the top layer of skin. Due to the blistering, sunburn is comparable to a 2nd degree burn. A peeling of the skin is a common symptom of sunburn, which can be observed even in light burns.

Due to the blistering as well as the damage to the skin’s own connective proteins in sunburn, the skin layers detach from each other. The uppermost layer of skin cells therefore lies as a separate layer on the underlying tissue and the skin looks as if it is peeling off. Skin peeling is always accompanied by a deteriorated skin barrier.

The burned areas should therefore be kept clean to minimize the risk of infection. In some cases, sunburn can also lead to fever. Fever refers to an increase in the body core temperature to over 38°C.

Fever due to sunburn is caused by messenger substances that are released when cells are damaged. However, these messenger substances must be present in a very high concentration to trigger a fever. Such a strongly increased body core temperature as an accompanying symptom therefore only occurs if the affected area is very large and severely damaged.