I’m a type of individuals who love spending a day engaged in some type of out of doors bodily exercise, even when it’s chilly and windy. I’m extraordinarily cognizant of applying sunscreen and attempt to care for my (ageing) physique and muscle tissues as a lot as attainable. However inevitably, I all the time endure from just a few bouts of painful windburn through the winter.

In case you’ve ever skilled windburn, you’re aware of the stinging, burning sensation that may consequence from a fun-filled winter adventure (or generally only a stroll to the shop). When my pores and skin is windburned — usually on my face — it may possibly develop a reddened look, taking the “rosy winter cheeks” factor to the acute. It’s not a glance I’m very keen on.

For a couple of day afterward, my pores and skin additionally feels extraordinarily dry, barely heat and considerably painful — not a pointy ache however an total tenderness that I attempt to fight with moisturizer (which is normally reasonably profitable). Although there have been occasions when the burning sensation has been fairly intense, most frequently I’d liken it to what a gentle sunburn appears like.

In response to the specialists I talked to, windburn is fairly frequent. As little as quarter-hour of publicity can result in the situation, stated Dr. Adam Friedman, a professor and the chair of dermatology on the George Washington College Faculty of Medication & Well being Sciences. It seems that pores and skin, particularly on the face, is kind of tender.

To be taught extra, I talked to dermatologists about what windburn truly is, what makes it so painful and — as a result of most of us can’t simply keep inside all winter — the best way to stop it.

“Windburn is an damage to the pores and skin barrier which causes the highest layer of your pores and skin, referred to as the stratum corneum, to dry out,” Friedman stated.

As wind hits the pores and skin, it pulls out water through convection, he stated. That’s why you’re extra prone to find yourself with windburn after skiing, snowboarding or biking outdoor — all actions that enhance wind resistance. Although the stratum corneum solely wants a small quantity of water to perform, dropping it could disrupt the method of pores and skin cell turnover. Because of this windburn can occur so shortly.

“Our pores and skin is continually kicking useless cells to the curb and bringing in new ones. And when that turning-over course of ceases, the pores and skin turns into inflexible. It holds on to useless cells that needs to be getting the boot, then begins to crack,” Friedman stated.

Whereas any a part of the physique can get windburn, individuals most frequently expertise it on the face. “The pores and skin in your face is extra delicate as a result of it’s thinner,” stated dermatologist Dr. Rajani Katta, an author and a member of the volunteer medical colleges at Houston’s Baylor School of Medication and McGovern Medical Faculty.

A second aspect of windburn has to do with chilly hitting the pores and skin, which causes blood vessels to dilate. In response to Friedman, that is what produces the burning sensation we affiliate with windburn, in addition to that dreaded purple look.

My windburns usually really feel just like sunburns. Whereas Friedman didn’t fairly agree with the suggestion that windburn is solely sunburn through the colder months, he did level out that pores and skin is extra delicate to solar publicity when it isn’t “turning over accurately.” So if the pores and skin is already infected due to windburn, it’ll be extra prone to sunburn, and vice versa.

“Sunburn can affect the pores and skin’s means to get windburned as a result of when you have got a sunburn, the pores and skin doesn’t perform accurately. The pores and skin is already dried out,” Friedman stated. “So I feel they play off each other, however I don’t assume they’re analogous. I feel UV [ultraviolet] radiation could make it simpler to get windburn, however then windburn could make it simpler to get sunburn.”

How lengthy it takes a selected individual to get windburned relies on a wide range of elements, together with the situation on the physique and underlying pores and skin ailments like eczema, based on each Katta and Friedman.

Although greater humidity within the air makes windburn rather less doubtless, simply the act of the wind hitting your pores and skin will trigger it to lose water. That’s why masking up is some of the vital methods to stop it, Friedman stated.

One other technique of prevention is to “strengthen your pores and skin barrier through the use of mild soaps and attempting to not stand underneath a scorching bathe for greater than 10 to fifteen minutes, which may strip moisture out of your pores and skin,” Katta suggested.

“You additionally need to watch out concerning the merchandise that you simply’re utilizing. For instance, retinoids in some anti-aging merchandise can enhance the turnover of your pores and skin boundaries, which may find yourself damaging it. Zits medicines that dry out your pores and skin may weaken the pores and skin barrier,” she added.

However based on each Friedman and Katta, the perfect type of prevention is bodily safety in the way in which of masks, hats and gloves. “When snowboarding, snowboarding or one thing related, you really want so as to add a bodily barrier for defense, like a balaclava,” Katta stated.

“Moisturizers supply some safety within the sense that they’re a barrier between you and the skin world,” stated Friedman. However in the event you’re going to be out within the wind and chilly for an prolonged time period, cover your face and arms.

In case you’re experiencing windburn-related ache to the purpose that something you placed on it stings, Katta beneficial “dampening your pores and skin earlier than making use of moisturizer on high.”

Not all moisturizers are created equal, although. Usually, thicker products work best.

“Ointments are gooey and thick and have a tendency to not sting, whereas lotions and lotions normally will due to what’s in them [like preservatives or hydroxy acids],” Friedman stated. “If the inflammatory response and the irritation is extreme sufficient, chances are you’ll want a topical steroid like hydrocortisone 1%.” He prompt utilizing any product designed particularly for treating eczema.

In case you’re exterior for days on finish, maybe doing one thing barely loopy like trekking over a glacier, that’s clearly going to extend the therapeutic course of or halt it altogether.

“You’ll begin to get cracks within the pores and skin. And when that occurs, it predisposes you to pores and skin infections, making you extra susceptible to creating pores and skin allergy symptoms,” Katta warned. “I’ve had sufferers who, after their pores and skin will get actually dry and cracked, develop an allergy to their lip balms. When you break that pores and skin barrier, your immune system is extra uncovered.”

“There’s a compounding impact as a result of it’s not like there’s only one publicity; you need to hold going exterior each single day,” Friedman stated. “So daily the damage compounds. The laborious half is that you shouldn’t simply deal with it because it comes, however be proactive to stop it. It’s essential to incorporate that into your routine.”

That’s sage recommendation for lots of issues in life. Fortunately, moisturizing extra is a routine change most of us are outfitted to implement.

“And one last item,” Katta added. “At all times protect your lips.”