Summer is coming up, and with that is outdoor fun in the sun. Before you run out that door and onto the beach, you should take a moment to think about skin health. I know, I’m probably sounding like your doctor, your parents, or maybe even grandparents right now, but as someone who has seen up close what not protecting yourself from excessive UV exposure looks like, this is important.
Not only does healthy skin keep you looking younger, longer, but it also helps avoid melanoma and other health conditions later in life. I have multiple people, close to me in my life, who have had to undergo surgery, sometimes major surgery, to stop the spread of skin cancer. Sun safety isn’t the most fun thing to think about when you’re out on the beach, or even spending the day in your garden, but you’ll thank yourself later.
Stick with me and read the rest of the article. I know it’s a bit boring and these days you may have some preconceptions about what I’m going to say, but please have a little faith and give me a chance.
Why Do We Need Protection?
The sun, the bright glowing ball in the sky that you shouldn’t look at, throws off a lot of energy. It gives us heat, which is what allows for liquid water to exist on Earth and is why any of us exist. The sun gives us light, which is the basis for almost all plant life on Earth and how we humans see things. The big old orb also gives us some things that we need to be careful about, and for this article, that means UV light.
Ultraviolet light exists just beyond our visible spectrum, and the UV wavelength contains enough energy that, when it interacts with our skin’s cells, these rays actually cause a burn. Calling it sunburn isn’t just wordplay either, it is a burn just like you get from a heat source. In severe cases, there can be blistering, peeling, even nausea, fever, or chills. If you’ve never been burned that badly, count your lucky stars.
Some people are more sensitive to being burned than others. We all know someone who needs to cake on the goop lest they turn into a human tomato. I am one of these people and although looking like a Scooby-Doo ghost isn’t flattering, I’ll take that over the alternative. Just because you don’t burn easily, though, doesn’t mean that your skin isn’t impacted by UV light. Everyone should take care of their skin to stay healthy.
What’s Should I Do to Stay Safe?
The biggest, simplest, mostiest, hopefully not toastiest thing that you can do to stay safe is sunscreen. Yes, sunscreen, the thing that screens the sun. The effectiveness of sunscreen is measured by SPF, which stands for Sun Protection Factor. This widely known term is simply a quick way to represent how protective the sunscreen is. Essentially, the higher the SPF, the more UV light it blocks.
The lowest recommendation for adequate protection is 30 SPF, but many people, including myself, go with 50 or higher. Which SPF you reach for can be based on your skin’s need and how much UV there is on that day. The level of UV light at any given time is impacted by many variabilities. The strongest variables are location, time of day, and atmospheric elements.
Being closer to the equator, where the sun’s rays hit the atmosphere more directly, increases how much UV light makes it through our planet’s protective layer. During the hours of 12 PM to 3 PM (or 1200 to 1500 hours for our 24-hour clock enhanced friends), the sun’s light strikes most directly and further enhances how much UV reaches the surface. Clearer days allow the most light to reach us, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of safety by clouds because they do not block UV light and you can still be burned on cloudy days.
Anecdotally, several doctors and nurses I know have told me that they see more cases of severe sunburn on cloudy days than sunny ones because people don’t realize they aren’t fully safe.
There are also two types of UV light, UVA and UVB. UVB protection is very important to have because it is 1,000-2,000 times more damaging than UVA. Make sure your sunscreen protects against UVB as well.
What Kind of Sunscreens Are There?
There are two types of sunscreens on the market, traditional sunscreen, which is a chemical based protection, and mineral, which is a mineral based protection. Both types of products have their pros and cons, but both provide protection from UV.v
The more widely known and familiar sunscreen is the chemical-based products. These use chemicals that are absorbed by your skin and then provide protection from UV light. The protection is caused by the chemicals absorbing the energy from UV rays instead of your skin’s cells. Some common active ingredients are: avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, and octinoxate.
Chemical sunscreens are lighter to wear, transparent, and often more water-resistant, meaning they stay on your skin longer when exposed to water. However, their drawbacks can be that some people may experience an allergic reaction, and they take time to become effective, typically about 20 minutes.
Your typical chemical based sunscreen. This is the type that the FDA approved the new sunscreen ingredient for.
Over the years, concerns have also grown about the safety of sunscreens using those chemicals. By design, those chemicals are absorbed into the skin and, inevitably, some of them make their way to your blood stream. While long the term safety or danger of those chemicals has not been conclusively determined many people, including health professionals, advocate for better alternatives.
To the end of safer sunscreens, last week, the FDA approved a new ingredient for sunscreen, bemotrizinol. It’s the first new ingredient to be added to US sunscreen in more than 25 years, but it’s been in use in Europe and Asia for decades. I’m not going to dive into the regulatory hurdles that had stood in the way of this ingredient being used in US sunscreen, but this is widely regarded as a step in the right direction.
The good news is this ingredient will replace the older chemicals and there are significantly fewer concerns over the safety of bemotrizinol than the compounds it replaces. The bad news is that it will likely be a year or more before we see this ingredient hit the shelves of our supermarkets.
This is one of many mineral sunscreens available. These products will not have the new sunscreen ingredient in them.
Mineral sunscreens, which are widely available right now, are the other option. Just like the chemical-based products, these too have pros and cons. Among the pros are being less likely to cause allergic reactions, meaning they are good for sensitive skin, and immediate protection. Since mineral sunscreens work by reflecting UV light, rather than absorbing it, they work as soon as they are put on. The cons are that these products are often thicker, leaving a visible white cast on your skin, and can be harder to apply and feel heavier to wear.
Notably, there are no medical concerns with mineral sunscreens but, on the other hand, they also often are less water resistant than chemical sunscreens. That means that you’ll have to reapply more frequently if you’re in the water.
Most importantly, both types of sunscreens will keep your skin safe in the sun as long as you follow the directions for use.
Reef Safe
Another thing you might see when shopping for sunscreen is “reef-safe”. One thing we know about our sunscreens is that have the potential to damage coral reefs. That damage is principally caused by the chemicals in them. The idea behind “reef-safe” products is that the sunscreen does not contain chemicals that damage reefs and other sea life when it inevitably washes off you.
Be cautious, though, because “reef-safe” or “reef-friendly” are terms that are thrown on a lot of products but are they not regulated. That means that when you are shopping you can’t necessarily trust the label.
Look for titanium dioxide or zinc oxide as the active ingredients to make sure your sunscreen is as reef safe as possible.
To be sure that any product you use is safe for our aquatic life, you need to look for sunscreen with either of these two active mineral ingredients, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Avoiding chemical sunscreens when you go in the water is an important part of keeping all our waterways healthy.
There are quite a few health and environmental organizations that have guides on finding reef safe sunscreen. The Surfrider Foundation recently published their guide on reef friendly sunscreens and it includes links to the scientific studies they reference and I’m always for showing your work.
What Are Sunscreen Alternatives?
What if you can’t use or don’t want to use sunscreen? Perhaps you have sensitive skin, sensation issues, or something else? What’s the best way to protect yourself from the sun?
The most straightforward answer is to cover up. Umbrellas, parasols, long-sleeves, and big, silly, floppy, hats. That’s the answer.
Now, not all fabrics are equal when it comes to sun protection. You want something tightly woven, and materials that are good at absorbing UV light, which are typically blended or synthetic fabrics. If you want the best protection, you also want a darker, heavier fabric and a loose fit.
If you’re going swimming, you can also consider a water shirt to give you protection that won’t slough off in the waves. I have one and I love it. Mine even has a hood on it to help keep the top of your head safe. There is also clothing that is specifically rated and marketed with UPF, which stands for ultraviolet protection factor.
Wearing clothing for UV protection is my usual approach, because it’s simple and effective. I burn very easily and by wearing a lightweight, long sleeve, UPF rated top, I stay safe, grease free, and cool. But UV rays can be reflected off of surfaces, especially water, glass, and snow. That means that I’ll still use sunscreen on my face and other exposed skin to make sure I’m protected when I’m near those conditions, like when I’m on a boat.
Stay Safe and Get Outside
As I’ve been writing this, I’ve kept in the back of my mind the fact that we humans need the sun. Not just to grow plants or keep us warm, we need to be in sunlight for our health. Being outside in sunlight is what promotes vitamin D production. Somewhat ironically for this article’s focus on health, we specifically need the UVB, the most intense UV light, to make Vitamin D.
While it is absolutely true that we need that sunlight on our skin, the reality is you really don’t need much of that UV. To maintain a healthy level of vitamin D, humans only need about 4-15 minutes a few times a week at midday. That length of time will vary greatly depending on all the factors I mentioned earlier in this article, but it still isn’t very much.
I’m not endorsing any of these products, they are just what I had in my home. Whether you use these or something else, the important thing is that you’re protecting yourself.
Once you’ve got that exposure, which you can get quite easily with a short stroll at lunchtime, you’re good. After that length of time, the important health factor is to take care of your skin. Wearing sunscreen or covering up with clothes is still the best thing to do for your health once you’ve gotten the necessary UV exposure for vitamin D. Even SPF 15 sunscreen protects against skin cancers and precancers. Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Melanoma can be reduced by up to 50% through regular use of sunscreen.
In addition to this, it protects against skin aging. Wrinkles, sagging, spots, and “leathery” skin can all come from not protecting yourself. Those undesirable effects can all be reduced through regular, thorough use of sunscreen.
In the end, after you get your dose of vitamin D, it is always advisable to use sunscreen or cover your skin, regardless of age, skin type, or location, anytime that you are out and about in the sun.
