Here Comes The Sun........

I live on the east coast of the US and as the weather warms up and we can spend more time outside, my mind turns to which sunscreen to buy. There are a million choices out there and it’s hard to choose. In general, I am very careful about what ingredients are in my personal care products so why should sunscreen be any different? And yet every year I usually just go for a high SPF rating, convenience of application and no obnoxious scents. This year, after getting a weird blistery-looking burn on one arm after using an SPF 70 product, I decided to take a closer look at my options. Once again, my best source of information was EWG (Environmental Working Group). They rate sunscreens for both toxicity and “balanced” protection from the sun. They also have an app which you can download so you always have great information to refer to.

It turns out that most people choose a sunscreen based on its SPF. Like me, they reach for products with a high SPF, assuming they’re getting the best protection from the sun’s harmful rays. But, says EWG, “that is often far from the truth”. SPF values are not a reliable indicator of how effective a sunscreen is. A good sunscreen needs to provide balanced protection against both UVA and UVB rays. The SPF rating only tells us how well a product will protect from UVB rays, the main cause of sunburn and non-melanoma skin cancers, EWG says, “SPF values do not reflect a product’s ability to protect from other harmful UV rays, such as UVA, which penetrate the skin more deeply and are associated with skin aging and cancer”.

Higher SPF values are not necessarily better! Here are a few of my key takeaways:

1.)   As SPF increases, the ratio of UVA protection decreases. High-SPF products suppress sunburn much more effectively than they protect from UVA-induced damage, like suppression of the immune system, formation of harmful free radicals in skin, and development of melanoma.

2.)   High-SPF products tend to lull users into a false sense of security, so they stay in the sun longer and overexpose themselves to both UVA and UVB rays. As a result, they get as many UVB-inflicted sunburns as unprotected sunbathers and are likely to absorb more damaging UVA radiation.

3.)   People assume they get twice as much protection from SPF 100 sunscreen as from SPF 50. But the extra protection is almost nonexistent. When used correctly, a sunscreen with an SPF between 30 and 50 offers great sunburn protection, even for people most likely to burn.

4.)   High-SPF products require higher concentrations of sun-filtering chemicals than low-SPF sunscreens do. Some of these ingredients may pose health risks when they penetrate the skin and have been linked to tissue damage and potential hormone disruption. Some may cause allergic skin reactions. So, choosing a sunscreen with a lower concentration of active ingredients – SPF 30 instead of SPF 70, for example – is the way to go.

For information on how the EWG rates specific products and for a deeper dive into this topic go to: https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=202105SunscreenLaunch1&utm_medium=email&utm_content=sunscreen&sourceid=1020262