Dan's Papers - July 13, 2007 -

As a fair skinned Irishman, I'm all too familiar with the omnipotent strength of Ultra Violet Rays on Main Beach in East Hampton and Atlantic Avenue Beach in Amagansett. However, after spending a month in Thailand during the winter and somehow avoiding "death burn," I assumed I was immune to the summer sun (and we all know what happens when you assume). However, after a recent trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming I realized that once again I underestimated the ferocious strength of the fiery ball of gas we call the Sun.

It was a hot Jackson Hole morning and floating the white water of the Snake River with a cooler full of Budweiser and a few friends sounded like the best way to beat the heat. It was an SPF 45 day, straight dry mid-day heat. It's been a very hot and extremely dry summer so far in the Teton Valley and the lack of humidity makes the heat seem bearable, camouflaging the lethal UV rays and effectively frying your skin. Our group put in the river around 11 a.m. and floated the winding Snake River for 5 hours under the blazing mid day sun. The water was refreshingly frigid and chilling swells of white water crashing over the boat helped make the sun feel soft.

After a long day of jumping off cliffs into the river and battling rapids, we were out of beer and ready to pull out of the river. I unzipped my life jacket and threw it in the back of the truck. It was then, while reaching for a stray paddle, I noticed what I describe as a "sports bra tan" tattooed on my shoulders, upper back and chest. I had deep fried skin. Upon first glance it didn't look so bad, just a light burn, a mere base coat for what I had hoped would one day become a golden tan. But by the time we were rolling back into town, my shoulders began to sting a "tabasco in the eye" sting and I knew things weren't kosher. It was at this moment that I finally understood why cowboys always covered up in pants, long sleeved shirts, ten-gallon hats and bandanas. The western sun is just too damn hard on unprotected skin.

The result of a blissful afternoon rafting the Snake River was a sickening case of sun poisoning, highlighted by a scabbed and scarred burn on my left knee and scorched skin on both of my shoulders. A bottle of aloe and two weeks later, my skin is beginning to repair itself.

Of course this could have been prevented. Anyone spending the day at the beach or on water should remember to periodically reapply sunscreen after getting wet, even if the sunscreen is waterproof. Also remember to check the expiration date on your sunscreen (if I had done this I could have sparred myself many sleepless nights).

It's no secret that direct contact with the sun at its highest point of the day is not good for your skin. The best way to prevent a burning back and endless hours spent peeling skin is to repeatedly apply sunscreen with at least a 35 SPF rating. For the truly fair skinned, there are SPF's available as high as 75. While SPF 75 might seem a bit excessive, truth is you can never underestimate the strength of the sun, which seems to get increasingly potent with every passing year.

If you're careless and end up with singed shoulders, there are foolproof methods for cooling your pain and revitalizing your skin. A trusty remedy is lathering your burn in cool aloe. If you happen to have a fresh aloe plant, simply cut one of the stalks and squeeze the chilly goo all over the affected area. Store bought aloe will work, but nothing is better than the real thing. If your burn is beyond aloe control, try a product called REPAIR by Mlis. The lotion is "formulated to minimize scar tissue formation following surgery" and "can help to reverse the scarring process and diminish most types of newly formed scar tissue." It also helps healing dry and damaged skin, including burns, scars, eczema, psoriasis, stretch marks, abrasions, poison oak, poison ivy and sunburn. But before you have to resort to buying cases of Mlis REPAIR, remember to try and stay out of the mid-day sun, frequently apply sun block (not Hawaiian Tropic 4) and drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Enjoy your summer without turning into a human lobster.