By Candice Lombardi
Summer brings sunshine, beach days, and poolside fun — but it can also wreak havoc on your skin. From painful sunburns to jellyfish stings and bug bites, dermatologists Margot Chima and Leah Ansell of Treiber Dermatology in Rye say you can protect yourself and have an enjoyable summer.
Sunburn can happen in as little as 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your skin tone, location, and the UV index, according to Chima.
“The tricky part is that you don’t feel a sunburn happening,” she said. “The redness and pain usually appear hours later, after the damage has been done.”
Sunscreen is the best defense against not just sunburns, but skin cancer and premature aging. Use a chemical or mineral sunscreen with an SPF of 30 to 50 every day — even on cloudy days. Wide-brimmed hats and UPF-protective clothing can help, too.
“The biggest mistakes people make are not using enough sunscreen and forgetting to reapply,” Chima said. Use a quarter- to half-teaspoon on the face and neck and about one ounce — a full shot glass — for the body. Reapply every two hours, especially after swimming, even if the bottle says “water resistant.” Commonly missed areas include the ears, scalp, lips, back of the neck, tops of the feet, and backs of the hands.
“It’s not surprising that these are the places where we find skin cancers,” she added.
Your skin can also be challenged by the chlorine found in most pools according to Ansell, who said chlorine can strip away the skin’s natural oils, leading to dryness and eczema flare-ups. To protect the skin barrier, she recommends applying a light moisturizer or cream before swimming and rinsing off immediately afterward with a gentle, fragrance-free cleanser and moisturizing shampoo. Products containing ceramides, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, or petrolatum can help restore lost hydration.
If the beach is where you hang, beware of sea lice and jellyfish, which are common in the Long Island Sound. Bites from either can leave your skin red and inflamed. Sea lice are microscopic jellyfish or sea anemone larvae that cause a rash if they become trapped beneath swimsuits. Ansell recommends showering with fresh water immediately after swimming and washing swimsuits thoroughly.
Jellyfish stings can be more painful because tentacle fragments can remain on the skin and continue releasing venom. Chima recommends rinsing the affected area with seawater—not fresh water—and carefully removing any remaining fragments with the edge of a credit card. For both sea lice and jellyfish stings, hydrocortisone cream, cool compresses, and antihistamines help calm irritated skin.
Insects are another unavoidable part of summer. Mosquito bites can quickly turn an enjoyable outing into an itchy one. To ward them off, Chima said, “EPA-approved repellents containing DEET (20–30%), picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus (not for children under three) work best.” If bites do occur, hydrocortisone cream and an antihistamine can help reduce redness and itching.
Deer ticks are the primary carrier of Lyme disease in the Northeast. These ticks not only lurk in the deep woods, but also right in our backyards in tall grass and leaf litter. To reduce your risk of Lyme disease from ticks, treat clothing with permethrin, do a full-body tick check after outdoor activities, and shower within two hours of coming indoors. If you find an attached tick, remove it with fine-tipped tweezers using steady upward pressure, Chima said. Clean the area with soap and water or rubbing alcohol and save the tick in a sealed bag in case symptoms develop later. The good news is that Lyme disease transmission is unlikely if a tick has been attached for less than 48 hours.
If you notice signs of an allergic reaction to any of these skin issues (severe rash, dizziness, nausea or flu-like symptoms), contact your doctor or head to urgent care.
