Sunburns

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Sunburns

It's well into the month of June now; summertime is here. Time to slather on the sunscreen! I know I definitely will be now if I plan to be outside for an extended period. I learned my lesson last August.

My roommate and I had signed up to go on a beach trip with our college group. It had been a long time since I had put on a swimsuit (much less a one-piece). I wore the school tee shirt and a pair of cotton shorts over it. I then watched my roommate finish packing our bag, throwing in a bottle of sunscreen, an item I thought very little about.

We were having a really good time. We went to an aquarium first, and I got to pet my first turtle - yay! I had bought a digital camera before the trip, so we took a bunch of pictures of the sharks and fish, even one that looked like Dory from 'Finding Nemo'.

The beach was next on the agenda after lunch. My roommate applied my sunscreen for me, and I noticed the bottle claimed that it was waterproof. I wish I'd never seen that stupid label. We had fun on the shore for a while, burying one of our friends in the sand and making her a sand mermaid.

Water time! Now it's not like I can swim, so one of the professors that was chaperoning stayed with me. He helped me go out in deeper water, and all of us began splashing each other. Once my legs started hurting and my body got cold, we went back on the beach. This is the point where I should have re-applied my sunscreen. I didn't.

I spent the rest of the day laying on the beach. I had put my shorts back on but not my shirt. Shorts aren't much help when laying in the sun four hours straight. I know that wasn't a smart move at all, and my legs paid a heavy price.

For about a month afterward, my legs suffered through a deep red sunburn. I could barely do anything at all. I wore shorts or loose sweat pants to class until I healed. Sleeping was a literal pain. I would scratch until I almost bled. My roommate and I thought about going to the local hospital, but we never did.

A friend gave me a blue medicated gel with aloe vera in it, and it helped most but not all the time. We're putting up the pool in our backyard this weekend. I'll be applying sunscreen before I even walk out of the door and keeping it close by me.

Average Grade: A

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	Mrs Stacy Engel	25-Jan-08

AWWWWWWWWWW THAT'S AWFUL!!!!!!!! That actually happened to me a couple of years ago. I went to the beach and put on sunscreen but the spf was 15. I was lying in a chair and fell asleep. when I woke up, my whole entire body was beet-red. My sunburn was so bad that I had to soak in cold baths, I had to rub aloe on myself, and sleeping was a problem for me as well. Sunscreen should always be applied when going out in direct sun. and always remember to re apply. Also choose a high enough SPF.

	Tracey	22-Jul-07

I have heard that the top models put on sun screen everyday, regardless whether they are indoors or outdoors.

	nicole, parasite	20-Jul-07

Ouch. Remember people, Sunscreen is your friend!