Acne Magazine

I recently got back from the south, meaning South Carolina for me since I live in Ohio.  My boyfriend and I visited his brother and his wife and their 5 month old boy.  We had a great time there, but it was really hot the whole time, considering we’re almost in the middle of summer and down south that means hot, humid weather, starting in June usually and getting worse in July and August.  I like the heat, it’s just a little too humid for me down there.  The constant heat and humidity also creates another problem for those of us that are religious about putting sunblock on and protecting our skin.

It makes it hard to know when to reapply because you are literally sweating the stuff off without even knowing it.  Sure, you can put on a waterproof formula, but even those need to be reapplied and mechanically get washed off and eaten away by the salt your sweat produces.  So that’s how  I ended up with bumps that were not acne but were actually sun poisoning, on my shoulders.  When I first noticed them was just a few days ago, after we had already been exposed to the burning sun several days prior, so it took a little while for my skin to develop the bumps.

What is sun poisoning?  Well, sun poisoning is basically a reaction that your body’s immune system has to getting too much sun – which is basically almost like radiation poisoning if you think about it.  It’s not a good thing, and just one severe sunburn can trigger reactions that can lead to cancerous cell growth, so I was really disappointed that I wasn’t adequately protected during my trip and got such bad sunburn on my shoulders.  I wore a fifteen SPF that was waterproof that day I got it, but we were at an amusement park that day and I didn’t have access to my sunscreen for a few hours to reapply it so I think that’s why my shoulders got burnt.

Also, the fact that we were up on high roller coasters much of the time, closer to the burning rays of the sun didn’t help.  At least my face never got burnt.  I’m sure the fact that I was wearing large wrap around sunglasses helped shield part of my face, which is a good idea for all of you if you’re going to be in the sun all day long, to protect your eyes and ultimately alarge chunk of your facial skin as well.  Sun burns on your face can actually trigger acne breakouts, so be very careful about protecting your face with a great, natural and noncomedogenic sun protectant cream or spray on your face, and reapply often for the best and most consistent protection.