Aspirin Against Sunburn

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j.

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Has anyone tried to use aspirin as protection from sunburn damage?

In his article Using Sunlight to Sustain Life Peat mentions that vitamin E and aspirin can be used to protect from sunburn.

I googled looking for experiences and found this:

I have a home remedy to prevent sunburn and you may not have heard of it. I take three aspirin about an hour before I go into the sun, and an additional aspirin each hour I stay out after the first hour, stopping an hour before I end my sun exposure.
I am usually in the sun for four to six hours at a time, once or twice a month during the summer. Most of that time is in direct sunlight. In case you are wondering, my ancestry is from northern Europe, and I am paper white. I usually get a little pink, but do not burn, hurt or peel.

Link
 

charlie

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Someone reported the same thing on the forum works for him with the aspirin. I forgot who though. It stops the oxidation process or something like that, I don't remember exactly.
 
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J

j.

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Considering that aspirin works in some ways like niacinamide, would niacinamide help prevent sunburn?
 

charlie

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I finally found who was talking about aspirin and sunburn, it was Asimov, keep reading down the thread to get his explanation on it:
viewtopic.php?p=20351#p20351
 

Dan W

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Not exactly hard data, but after reading that thread, I had tried internal aspirin and topical aspirin + vitamin E, and avoided a sunburn where I would've expected one.
 

haidut

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j. said:
Considering that aspirin works in some ways like niacinamide, would niacinamide help prevent sunburn?

This is an excellent quetions "j." and it is a question I was just waiting for someone to ask so I can flood everyone with information!
It seems that niacinamide may do much more than aspirin when it comes to photoprotection, and even reverse some aspects of skin aging regardless if they were caused by sun or not. In some countries sunscreens are already sold that contain topical niacinamide. It seems combination of oral and topical gives the best results just like in aspirin's case. However, most people will probably settle for taking the pills only and even that seems to be good enough to protect from skin cancer. So, here comes the deluge:):

Photoprotection (from UVA, UVB, and UVC):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23891603
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23349012
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22709272
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22256624
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20492562
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19804594
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19028705
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17945101
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17882270
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15748504
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23397947
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9427980
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12615518


Sking quality and aging:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19017042
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18492135
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17147561
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16029679
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22297641
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20950260

The studies I found for humans used anywhere from 500mg/day to 1.5g/day and they claimed that 500mg is all we need, with higher doses not providing extra protection. I personally have taken 1.5g two hours before going into the sun and then 1.5g the evening after sun tanning. I did not burn, even though my skin is fairly light and the sun was strong (it was over 100 degrees "F" outside).
 

jyb

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RP also mentioned coffee, not just aspirin and niacinamide.
 

aquaman

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I love this forum.

I'm in the tropics (normally from cold europe) and got burnt today. My head is bright pink 1 hour after leaving sun, normally my sunburn would only set in 4-5 hours after leaving sun, so I know it's coming... it's already doing that thing when you press and it goes pale white, then flushes back to pink straight after.

Just taken 2 aspirin, 1000mg of niacinimide, topical Vitamin E and will add some topical niacinimide and aspirin later..

Will report later or tomorrow to see how it develops.
 

charlie

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aquaman said:
I love this forum.
It's a great bunch of helpful people. :)

I'm in the tropics (normally from cold europe) and got burnt today. My head is bright pink 1 hour after leaving sun, normally my sunburn would only set in 4-5 hours after leaving sun, so I know it's coming... it's already doing that thing when you press and it goes pale white, then flushes back to pink straight after.

Just taken 2 aspirin, 1000mg of niacinimide, topical Vitamin E and will add some topical niacinimide and aspirin later..

Will report later or tomorrow to see how it develops.
I googled the link below and it says coconut oil and butter, along with some apple cider vinegar heals a sunburn fast. Not sure how the vinegar helps though. lol

http://butterbeliever.com/sunburn-remedy/
 
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J

j.

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The idea of using aspirin is to prevent sunburn, I don't know if it treats it once it occurs.
 

charlie

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j. said:
The idea of using aspirin is to prevent sunburn, I don't know if it treats it once it occurs.
I would think it would help. But yes taking it prior is optimal.
 

aquaman

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Charlie said:
j. said:
The idea of using aspirin is to prevent sunburn, I don't know if it treats it once it occurs.
I would think it would help. But yes taking it prior is optimal.

Next morning, my head/face is slightly pink but no pain at all, even when scratching. Normally sunburn i feel eg when drying with a towel or scratching.
 

Velve921

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So I spent my first day out in the sun in 7 months for 5 hours straight; normally I use coconut oil but I was curious to see what would happen.

Just a little background info....as a kid I would get bubbles on my shoulders after 20 minutes in the sun.

I have not used sunblock in 4 years and have been PUFA free for 2 years; I got extremely red on my face that looks like a burn but I have no pain whatsoever! I have been supplementing 4 Aspirin a day for the past 48 hours since being in the sun and have applied Solban, Coconut Oil, and Vitamin A to my face; still no pain. My face would be the equivalent to a red panda face as people describe it as I have sunglass imprints. In previous years my face would be killing me.

I am not saying it is good that my face is red; however, everybody thinks I should be in agonizing pain but I am not one bit.

Just wanted to share. Thanks for the previous threads/messages as its helped with pain prevention!
 

m_arch

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I haven't been sunburnt since using a few table spoons of collagen in my cereal.
Dr Joel Brind (he has articles on 180degreehealth) talks about glycine reducing inapropriate inflammation reactions , and also stopping his sunburn.

Seems legit, considering I spent a few days getting roasted in 38 degree Australian high UV sun with no sunburn.
 

achillea

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Rosacea, inflammation, and aging: The inefficiency of stress

The sun-damaged areas in rosacea can be directly provided with some of the protective factors by applying them topically. In the same way that topical lactate can cause vasodilation and disturbed energy metabolism (Rendl, et al., 2001), topical niacinamide, progesterone, vitamin K, and coenzyme Q10 can improve the metabolism and function of the local tissues. Riboflavin can probably be useful when applied topically, but because of its extreme sensitivity to light, it should usually be used only internally, unless the treated skin is covered to prevent exposure to light. Topically applied caffeine, even after sun exposure, can reduce local tissue damage (Koo, et al., 2007). Aspirin and saturated fats can also be protective when applied
 

tinkerer

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Thanks for the tips, everybody. I got sunburned yesterday and I'm trying most of the tips in this thread[, including the external treatments] on one side of my body to see if they help.
 
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Peata

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A couple summers ago, I used aspirin during days I was at the beach. I would add Alka Seltzer to bottled water along with a powdered energy drink that had B vitamins, caffeine, taurine. I would come to the threshold of burning but was fine (it would turn to a tan without pain). Yesterday, I worked in the sun and by end of day was starting to get red/burn feeling. I remembered I had a packet of Alka Seltzer, so I added that to my water and was OK. The pink area turned to a tan and stopped tingling. I also had more aspirin in the evening and this morning (due to something else not the sun exposure).
 

tinkerer

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Coincidentally, I am also using Alka Seltzer, as I keep that on hand as it's one of my Peaty therapeutics.
 

tinkerer

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Update: I think I tried every tip in this thread except the vinegar, but I didn't notice any difference from past sunburns or between the areas treated externally vs. untreated. This burn was worse than most I've had, so it may have just been beyond treatment, though there wasn't any pain beyond a little bit on the most sensitive areas of the scalp if I pressed on them (I normally don't get pain even with redness), even though one area was burned badly enough to cause some swelling. There still is some redness and peeling on my arms. The sun was stronger and hotter that day than any day I can recall in about 8 years. Guess I'll try the vinegar next. :D
 

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