2023-07-01 07:30:00
Question from Maryse
Is it bad for your health not to wash immediately following swimming in the sea?
Dear Maryse,
While the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture issued a drought decree on April 10, forcing coastal towns to cut off the water in beach showers, you are wondering regarding the need to rinse off following swimming in the sea to health reasons. What if, as several mayors of the Côte d’Azur have indicated, washing in fresh water following swimming was above all a public health issue?
The question needs to be asked. To answer this, we called on Dr. Damien Giacchero, dermatologist and venerologist in Nice.
“From a cutaneous point of view, it is easier to find arguments for than once morest a shower following a sea bath”poses the practitioner, specifying however that there is not, to his knowledge, of prospective scientific study which would have compared people having showered following a bathe with others not having done it.
“The peeling effect of sea salt is sometimes even sought following in certain medical indications, continues the specialist. The salt concentration can, for example, eliminate dander [ces petites lamelles de peau morte qui se détachent de l’épiderme]even if the sunshine also contributes in the context of this pathology.
In terms of comfort this time, the dermatologist details the effects of salt on the skin: “Salt is corrosive, it attracts water. If you have a higher concentration of salt on your skin than on your body, it will cause dehydration, a bit like when you drain a meat or a vegetable in it. covering with coarse salt”, picture the doctor. Hence the uncomfortable tightness that can be felt when drying off following a dip in the sea… and the well-being generated by the fresh water shower that follows.
“There is no medical contraindication to showering only following returning home”, Dr. Giacchero, dermatologist
“The beach shower is the apotheosis of modern comfort”, underlines the historian Philippe Duhamel, in a recent article in the newspaper Le Monde. In La Ciotat, for example, “the first beach shower was installed in 1979, at a time when comfort was a priority”also details Jean-Marc Martinez, delegate for environmental issues in this seaside resort in the Bouches-du-Rhône, on the Var border.
If showering on sand or pebbles is therefore above all a little summer pleasure, the Nice dermatologist Damien Giacchero qualifies: “When you bathe in seawater, you are also exposed to bacteria and various micro-organisms. It is therefore good form to rinse yourself. But there is no contraindication doctor to take a shower once you get home.”
In this matter, the practitioner recommends referring, above all, to the “common sense”. “Obviously, I advise once morest prolonged exposure to seawater for a person suffering from eczema in crisis. Just as I would like to remind you that you should not expose yourself to the sun between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. “he argues.
Maintain access to hygiene for vulnerable populations
If the beach showers are cut, what regarding the most vulnerable populations, such as the homeless, argues in particular the mayor of Antibes.
“Of course, for more than a century, hygiene has reduced mortality. It would really be a distressing setback if we did not find an alternative solution to this beach equipment for precarious people who do not have access to a shower”, underlines the Nice dermatologist. By strengthening, in particular, “the reception capacity of dedicated structures”.
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