Summer is just around the corner – and one woman is already sharing cautionary tales about what can happen if your receive too much sun.
Taylor Faith posted a video to TikTok this week explaining that she had suffered from horrific, third-degree burns after being in the sun for eight hours with no protection.
In a short clip posted online, both of Taylor’s legs were completely covered in gauze, and a small glimpse of her severely sunburned skin underneath looked bright red and painful.
‘Me because I decided not to wear sunscreen,’ she wrote on the video.
‘Third degree sun burn and haven’t been able to walk for five days,’ she captioned the video, which has been viewed over six million times.
‘I think this life lesson is gonna turn me into a sunscreen activist,’ she added.
According to a comment left on the post, the hospital told Taylor it was the first time they had seen such a severe burn from the sun.
‘My insides are severely damaged and all my blood vessels are as well,’ she wrote.
A woman named Taylor Faith posted a video to TikTok this week explaining that she had suffered from horrific, third-degree burns after being in the sun for eight hours (stock image)
According to the Cleveland Clinic, sunburns occur from exposure to the sun’s UV rays or UV light from artificial sources.
‘You can usually treat first- and second-degree sunburns at home. Third-degree sunburns are very rare but need emergency treatment,’ the site noted.
A third-degree sunscreen severely damages all layers of your skin, including the fat layer beneath your skin.
‘It can also destroy nerve endings. Most third-degree burns result from a chemical burn or a fire and not from sun exposure,’ the website added.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, around one in three American people will experience a sunburn each year, this means approximately 100 million people are sunburned annually.
The same AAD survey showed less than 34 percent of Americans use sunscreen, with only a third of users reapplying it every two hours.
As many as 27 percent of people who do use sunscreen tend not to reapply sunscreen at all.
The AAD noted that since sunscreen’s protective qualities wear off over time, as well as sweat and water that can wash it off the skin, it’s important to reapply sunscreen to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays and reduce your risk of sunburn.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, sunburns occur from exposure to the sun’s UV rays or UV light from artificial sources (stock image)
The woman claimed she wasn’t able to walk for five days because of the burn (stock image)
Last year, Dr. Neera Nathan, a Harvard-trained skin cancer surgeon, shared a TikTok revealing she removes cancers from the backs of hands, ears, scalp and neck regularly.
She explained that since these areas are often exposed directly to sunlight they’re particularly dangerous places to overlook.
‘Most people apply sunscreen to their face but don’t realize these, and these are often in direct sunlight,’ Dr. Nathan told Newsweek.
Dr. David Kim, a New York City based dermatologist who was trained at Stanford, agreed, saying the number one place people forget to apply sunscreen is on the ears – followed closely by the scalp and hands.
He said while completing his medical degree he regularly found skin cancers on the ears of outdoor athletes who practiced without sunscreen.
The risk of getting sunburned can be reduced by protecting the skin everyday, including covering up and wearing sunscreen, as well as reapplying.
