Prevention, daily life, and wellbeing Organ and tissue transplantation and donation Kidney transplantation
August 12, 2014
Summertime often means lots of outdoor time. To help kidney patients protect themselves from the sun's damaging UV rays, here are the top 5 Tips from the NKF.
- If you have a transplant and are taking immunosuppressive medications, be aware that your skin may be more sensitive to the sun now. You may burn faster so be sure to use sunscreen with a very high sun protection factor (SPF).
- Those who take tetracyclines and sulfa (including furosemide and other diuretics) are sensitized to the sun and will sunburn with briefer exposures.
- Cover up when in the sun. Consider wearing a hat and long-sleeved shirt.
- Go outside before 10 am or after 2 pm. Those four hours are the hottest of the day, when the sun's rays are strongest.
- If you're on peritoneal dialysis, protect your catheter at all times.
