So last Sunday I went to Siebert Field to catch the Minnesota Gophers baseball game against Oklahoma. It was perfect weather for a baseball game -- no rain, a wind that was there but not stifling, temperatures warm but not hot ... and mostly sunny skies. It certainly wasn't the same weather as, say, the Allianz Field opener. Temperatures may not have reached 50, and it was overcast all day, so I broke out my long underwear for just that one day. The game Sunday, well, that was summer weather, so I wore just a t-shirt and shorts, the first time all year I wore the latter (obviously).
I did not expect, however, that the sun would be so, uh, hot. It probably got past 70, but (and I know I shouldn't think like this) to me, that wasn't a high enough temperature to put on sunscreen. I, in fact, thought that, since it was my first real exposure to the "hot" sun, my exposed skin could withstand it. It felt good for most of the game, but near the end, I started feeling something. It felt like my skin was burning, and not just tanning. I am familiar with this feeling before, but I swear I had no idea this would happen to me just sitting and watching a baseball game.
After I got home, and probably the day after, that's when the pain hit me. I remember reading once that a sunburn is like killing off your skin cells, and the burning sensation felt like I just let my skin cells fry and die in the sun. My arms (well, the one that was facing the sun for most of the game) and, to a lesser extent, my legs felt painful to the touch. I thought those areas would tan; instead, it went from pale to red, not brown. It got so bad that I went online and have used two things that is supposed to lessen the pain from sunburns: Taking ibuprofen and rubbing something with aloe on the affected areas.
It has been a week, so the most painful sensations have gone away. But not all of it; I still feel the burn whenever I twist my arm, or the shirt I'm wearing rubs up against my arms or legs. And now I see that the skin on my right arm is starting to peel. This time last night it was a small spot. Now that spot has grown, and an even bigger one has popped up and started to spread. It looks as though to fight a sunburn, you have to contain the damage and then push it up into the dermis, whereby my body can get rid of it by exposing the dead skin cells to the outside and the elements. I wonder if the peeling skin will get worse.
This should convince me to wear sunscreen, even on a spring day. But I know I probably won't do that.
I did not expect, however, that the sun would be so, uh, hot. It probably got past 70, but (and I know I shouldn't think like this) to me, that wasn't a high enough temperature to put on sunscreen. I, in fact, thought that, since it was my first real exposure to the "hot" sun, my exposed skin could withstand it. It felt good for most of the game, but near the end, I started feeling something. It felt like my skin was burning, and not just tanning. I am familiar with this feeling before, but I swear I had no idea this would happen to me just sitting and watching a baseball game.
After I got home, and probably the day after, that's when the pain hit me. I remember reading once that a sunburn is like killing off your skin cells, and the burning sensation felt like I just let my skin cells fry and die in the sun. My arms (well, the one that was facing the sun for most of the game) and, to a lesser extent, my legs felt painful to the touch. I thought those areas would tan; instead, it went from pale to red, not brown. It got so bad that I went online and have used two things that is supposed to lessen the pain from sunburns: Taking ibuprofen and rubbing something with aloe on the affected areas.
It has been a week, so the most painful sensations have gone away. But not all of it; I still feel the burn whenever I twist my arm, or the shirt I'm wearing rubs up against my arms or legs. And now I see that the skin on my right arm is starting to peel. This time last night it was a small spot. Now that spot has grown, and an even bigger one has popped up and started to spread. It looks as though to fight a sunburn, you have to contain the damage and then push it up into the dermis, whereby my body can get rid of it by exposing the dead skin cells to the outside and the elements. I wonder if the peeling skin will get worse.
This should convince me to wear sunscreen, even on a spring day. But I know I probably won't do that.
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