I had a similar concern regarding swelling (edema) of the feet and ankles noticed after a sunburn-filled vacation overseas and thought I might add my non-medical professional two cents as a 40 year old with no known allergies.
I had experienced this type of swelling once previously after a long flight where lack of movement seemed to cause blood/fluid collection under low air pressure to build up in both legs and feet. The swelling was gone after an hour of walking through the airport for baggage and parking.
After a more recent flight I noticed the same condition, however, this time the swelling lasted well into the following day. I believed the difference may be related to the sunburn on my legs and feet sustained two days before my return flight, causing an extra fluid build-up. I attempted rest with legs and feet elevated which resulted in slightly reduced swelling. I had also taken a dose of an anti-infammaotry ibuprofen. It wasn't until quite a bit of walking and excercise until the swelling had reduced completely.
The exercise seemed to help force the fluid out of the tissue. I should note, the swelling was in both legs and was not painful other than the streching of sunburned skin.
I dont have an answer, just a related question. I was boating for about 4-5 hours during a camping trip, as well as tubing and using a water jungle gym. My sunburns arent severe, but to the side of my right thigh where Im not sunburned, I cant feel anything. Its been this way for 3 days now, and Im getting concerned. It feels professionally numbed by a doctor, so I can still feel pressure, but no pain necessarily. I have tried to wake it up, or tab and lightly scratch and nothing responds. Anyone know what is happening?
I'll keep this short and sweet : I had badly burned the front of my legs. Couldn't walk, had to shuffle. Sleep was miserable. Ankles and knees were horribly swollen. What I did : drank A LOT and I mean a lot of water. Took advil for the pain and inflammation and I rested. Don't use skin topicals with alcohol in it - that only dries the skin. Go to health store ( independent or Whole Foods) and get a skin spray with Active Aloe in it. Also a spray with lavender is good too. Take Epson salt baths. Use Cool wet paper towels. Apply gentle lotion (like Aveeno) if / when you can touch your skin, as you don't want skin to dry out. I'm on day 4 and finally moving around today. Still swollen ankles but I'm in much better shape, pain still exists but only slight and the heat feeling on my legs has calmed down. Horrible experience! Lesson learned. So remember : Water. Advil. Aloe. Epson. Lotion.Rest. PS I also heard Noxema is soothing too.
My belief, as I am going through this now, is that after testing (yeah, it hurt like hell, but I learned) is that the issue has to do with blood pressure in your skin. It feels muscular, probably it isn't.
If you notice, it gets worse when you fully stand, if you stoop, it lessens? Yeah. blood pressure. If you stand long enough, and slowly enough, it stops altogether. BUT it will return after you sit or lay for a while. The longer you lay, the longer it will take to recover from that initial blast of pain... How long? Why? don't know... but I'm 100% certain it is relatd to blood pressure in the burnt skin.
Please correct me or add if you know more details.
I have been reading about these symptoms all over the internet....No one seems to have an answer. The same thing happened to me last year. I work at a teaching hospital--in The Emergency Department. The burn center docs said they didnt think the problem was burn related as they had never seen anything like that. The ED docs had no idea? Immunology didnt think it was an immune response, Ditto for all the other departments. I was at a loss? I do have a connective tissue disorder--Graves Disease. I wondered if it might be an immune response? I was at the Gulf and in the water after my sunburn. The sunburn did seem to burn way more than one would have expected. One of the ED docs that trained in Galveston noted that there was a huge bacterial lode in the water--and it was possible it could be related to a bacteria in the water. He prescribed a certain antibiotic. This did seem to help. I dont know if it was the time factor(as it had been 5 days) or if it was the antibiotic? But, I will say....I had access to a wide variety of specialists at the hospital. And, no one knew for certain what had caused the reaction? I am not too confident that a general practitioner would know? Good luck
hey, my girlfriend was in the sun four days ago and got sunburnt now her ankles and feet are swollen and she cant walk without severe pain. she's 22 and we have no idea what to do. we have tryed putting them in cold water, sitting with a wet towel over them, su nburn cream, everything but nothing is working, please help we dont have long left on our holiday and we've been stuck inside.
when she gets out of a hot bath normally her feet go black and blue, could this have anything to do with it???
Hey ladybug, I am going through the same exact thing right now I got burned 4 days ago and keeps getting worse now my legs are discolored purple and blotchy swelling became so severe I lost feeling in my left foot. did you get any answers that may help me with my recovery?
Hi.
When did the sunburn happen?
At this point, I am thinking that this may not be associated with the sunburn.This seems to be a case of orthostatic edema which seems to be aggravated by walking around or prolonged standing. I suggest that you have this assessed by your physician so that a complete physical examination be done .
Do you have any varicosities in both legs?
Any discolorations?
A complete examination of your pulses as well as evaluation kidney function may be necessary.