10 replies to this topic

[Shepard]

Gotta love Spring Break. After a recent boating trip that went all kinds of wrong, I'm left with some slight sun burns on my legs, arms, and face. By slight, I mean that it really hurts.

I'm aware of several supplements that help protect from UV damage, but what speeds up the rate of healing of skin that has already been damaged? Probably too late at this point for any significant improvements, but for future reference. I'm sure that I faired a little better than the other guy on the boat (considering my supplement regimen), but since he got us lost...he totally deserves it. However, I had been off of it for a couple of days prior due to being on vacation.

I've just been using my standard skin regimen, which I feel will help...but who knows?

Anyway: post-UV damage....what are some ideas to speed healing and/or minimize damage?

Some of my ideas (just off the top of my head, more of my gut feeling than any real literature I've seen on this particular subject):

Topical green tea & grape seed extracts
Topical idebenone/ubiquinone
Topical pycnogenol
Topical Vitamin C
Topical carnosine
Topical gingko

[biknut]

Omega-3 oils (EPA and DHA) save skin by suppressing inflammation. Plus, another oil, GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), has recently been shown to improve the moisture of aging skin and mucous membranes.

[biknut]

Silibinin and Silymarin.

When applied topically, they have been shown to prevent cancer formation in the skin of mice exposed to carcinogens such as chemicals and UV light. Combination with the green tea flavonoid EGCG brought about powerful anticancer effects.

[kenj]

Aloe Vera.

[Shepard]

EPA/DHA/GLA are very important for long-term skin health. I'm not sure how applicable they are in this situation, though.

Milk thistle looks good.

Aloe vera does have a long history for treating skin disorders, but I'm skeptical about its true effectiveness. Mostly due to my personal use of it for these situations.

[FunkOdyssey]

LEF has some useful suggestions along these lines. They provide links to research backing up the efficacy of aloe vera and have some ideas you may not have thought of, like topical curcumin, which promotes skin growth/healing.

Wound Healing @ LEF

[biknut]

Turmeric (Curcumin)

Turmeric contains the flavonoid curcumin — a very powerful anti-inflammatory agent and cancer fighter that also protects the skin from UV damage when applied topically. Normally, turmeric and curcumin are a deep yellow and can be quite messy to use, staining everything they touch. A newly developed form, tetrahydrocurcumin, is colorless but retains all of its beneficial properties. It has also been shown to lighten blemished skin and may inhibit melanoma growth.

[rfarris]

Do you think that wound healing is good for a new tattoo, or bad for it?

[lunarsolarpower]

It seems that applying vitamin E after a sunburn causes it to heal faster than using aloe in my experience. Its kind of messy though.

Also I've heard that preparation-H is good at relieving the pain though I've never personally tried it.

[zoolander]

rfarris,

I would say that wound healing is good for a tattoo. The quicker the better. Unless you are going for scarafication

[rfarris]

I would hate to find out that wound healing helped the skin to get rid of "foreign" ink particles.