What Is Solar Dermatitis?

The two penetrating ultraviolet rays, UVA and UVB in the sun, can directly reach the dermis of the skin, causing red, burning, hot, and painful skin to appear in the exposed area of people with allergies. This is often referred to as solar dermatitis in medicine. Allergies; At the same time, ultraviolet radiation can also cause a "health killer"-free radicals increase sharply in the body, causing local skin to produce wrinkles, pigmentation, cell damage, and even change the immune system, causing more severe phototoxicity and photoallergic reactions.

Solar dermatitis

The two penetrating ultraviolet rays, UVA and UVB in the sun, can directly reach the dermis of the skin, causing red, burning, hot, and painful skin to appear in the exposed area of people with allergies. This is often referred to as solar dermatitis in medicine. Allergies; At the same time, ultraviolet radiation can also cause a "health killer"-free radicals increase sharply in the body, causing local skin to produce wrinkles, pigmentation, cell damage, and even change the immune system, causing more severe phototoxicity and photoallergic reactions.

Introduction to solar dermatitis

The eye is one of the most sensitive organs to radiation-induced free radical damage in the body. There are many sources of radiation in modern life. Due to the destruction of the ozone layer, the intensity of ultraviolet rays in sunlight shining on the earth's surface is very high. TV fans and computers Workers sit in front of the fluorescent screen for a long time, causing the eyes to be damaged by very strong radiation, generating free radicals, damaging the crystals and the retina of the eyes. Due to the special sensitivity of the eyes to light, the eyes generally contain high concentrations of antioxidants. But with age, this natural protective effect gradually weakens. As a result, proteins in the lens of the eye are oxidized by free radicals, which makes the crystal thicker. This is cataract, and the vision of the eye is gradually blurred. Most of the elderly There are different levels of cataracts, and countless people are blinded each year.

Treatment of solar dermatitis

Conventional UV protection measures include the use of sunscreens and UV-protective parasols. Sunscreens only block part of UVA and are not very useful for UVB. UV-protective parasols are incapable of responding to UV rays reflected from the ground and walls.

1. People with a history of spring dermatitis may apply sunscreen appropriately to protect the skin from damage of various wavelengths of ultraviolet and visible light.

2. Prevent prolonged exposure. During spring outings, you can cover with a wide-brimmed protective hat or umbrella.

3, do not use cosmetics containing more light-sensitive substances. Such as spices.

4, eat more foods containing vitamin A and fresh vegetables and fruits to maintain the normal function of the skin. For some light-sensitive substances that can induce spring dermatitis, such as rapeseed, spinach, lettuce, figs, etc., you should eat as little as possible or not.

5. Try not to use hot water, alkaline soap, or rough towels when washing your face.

6. Do facial beauty exercises every day. The method is: put your fingers close together, rub the palms slightly, and gently massage the skin on the forehead, palate, nose and ears for 3-5 minutes to promote facial blood circulation and make the facial skin smooth.

7. Avoid prolonged exposure in the sun and minimize activities in the sun around noon. Secondly, when the sun is strong and not outdoors, wear a straw hat or sun hat, or use a parasol, and wear a long sweater. The color is white or Lighter colors are better, and you can also wear color-changing glasses or sunglasses.

TCM treatment of solar dermatitis

Introduction to solar dermatitis

After Xiaoshu, midsummer kicked off. When people enjoy the coolness brought by air conditioning, cold drinks, and swimming, some people with more sensitive skin find that within a few hours of exposure, skin redness, swelling, burning and pain symptoms appear in exposed areas. This is solar dermatitis.

Solar dermatitis is a skin disease associated with sunlight, which is what we commonly call sunburn. It is an allergic skin disease caused by light and occurring in exposed areas. Generally, rashes such as erythema, pimples, wind masses, or blisters appear in the exposed area within a few hours after exposure, and the skin lesions have a burning sensation, itching, or tingling. The lighter ones have desquamation or left with varying degrees of pigmentation; the severe ones may be accompanied by cold-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and systemic adverse reactions. Spring and summer are more susceptible to disease because there is plenty of sunshine.

There are many causes of solar dermatitis, not just caused by sunlight. In addition to sunlight, food and medicine can also cause dermatitis. Such as spinach, rape, amaranth, amaranth, celery, eggplant, potatoes, white chrysanthemum, white amaranth and other foods or drugs. After eating, the photosensitive substances in these foods and medicines will accumulate in the body. When the concentration reaches a certain level, the skin of the exposed parts of the human body, hands, and feet will be exposed to direct sunlight to cause metabolic disorders and induce dermatitis.

Physical fitness is also a very important factor. Chinese medicine believes that the disease is endured by endowment, endogenous blood heat, eating hair, spleen and stomach disorders, endogenous damp and heat, recurring due to sun exposure, heat poisoning skin, and suddenly developed. In general, people with white and dry skin are more sensitive to sunlight than people with oily and dark skin.

In addition, some chemical fiber fabrics have poor sweat absorption and breathability, and clothing with weak reflection can easily cause solar dermatitis.

Diagnosis of solar dermatitis

So, how to judge whether you have solar dermatitis?

First, it occurs in the facial protrusions such as the arch of the eyebrows, the crotch and the back of the nose, the forearm, the back of the hands, feet, neck, and nails, which are symmetrically distributed.

The second is that the face and back of the hand have significant non-depression edema, the surface is tense and bright, and the quality is relatively solid. Swelling of the eyelids on both sides makes the eyelids closed and cannot be opened. The lips are valgus and the mouth is restricted. The skin is diffuse slightly flushed or purplish red with petechiae or petechiae, pimples, blisters, etc.

The third is conscious burning, soreness, tingling or itching. A few patients have systemic symptoms. The clinical manifestations of elderly frail people are more serious.

For skin damage caused by sunlight, prevention is important. The prevention of solar dermatitis should reduce the time of exposure to strong sunlight, and often participate in outdoor activities to enhance the skin's tolerance to sunlight. For people with allergies, it is difficult to completely avoid the occurrence of photosensitivity skin diseases in summer, but it can be alleviated by reducing the time to go out, finding allergenic substances, or using drugs to prevent and treat.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that solar dermatitis is caused by "external heat poisoning" and "inappropriate treatment" of the skin. It is mainly based on the treatment principles of "cooling blood to remove summer heat" and "clearing heat and detoxifying." Different treatments.

If the patient has skin erythema and redness, he can take some antipruritic, clearing scutellaria baicalensis, forsythia, big green leaves, silver flower, etc., or use white gelatine, white moss skin, flavescens for external washing.

For some dermatitis with exudation and blisters, on the basis of taking Chinese medicine, we should also add some anti-humidity medicines such as Qu Zhizi, Alisma, Psyllium, Poria, Liuyisan, etc.

Solar dermatitis treatment prescription

In addition, there are 2 topical drugs for mild dermatitis:

1. Take 30g of snake bed, ground skin seeds, Sophora flavescens, alum, Sichuan pepper. Decoction for juice, wash the affected area after fumigation, 1 dose / day, fumigation 3 times, 20 minutes / time.

2. Take 30g of rhubarb and 50g of senecio, soak it in 70% alcohol filled with 400ml for 7 days and set aside for later use. Use cotton swab dipped in medicinal solution to rub the affected area 3-4 times / day.