Wear Sunscreen Every Day in 2024! The Year of No Damage
We all know that sunscreen and protecting our skin is important. But oftentimes, the method of how to weightier use it and which kind works well for your skin type can be confusing.
There are moreover the worldwide questions that go withal with it, like whether or not wearing sunscreen affects your worthiness to swizzle Vitamin D.
Thankfully, Molly Sammon, PA-C at our Apex Skin in Parma is here to shed some light (though not the UV kind!) on this important, but troublemaking topic.
Why is sunscreen important?
Sunscreen is important considering it protects our skin from ultraviolet light (UV). The skin is our largest organ; it helps to protect us from infections, toxins, and any harmful substances we encounter in our activities of daily living.
“Without proper use of sunscreen, we are likely to wits sun forfeiture to our skin that can lead to painful sunburns, skin cancer, and premature aging.”
How does sunscreen prevent skin cancer?
Sunscreen prevents skin cancer by protecting us from harmful UV rays.
“Exposure to UV rays (and tanning) damages the skin. Over time, this forfeiture to our skin and skin cells builds up. When our skin and cells are damaged, we are at increased risk for developing skin cancer.”
There are two main types of sunscreens:
- Mineral sunblock: Mineral sunblock is considered a “physical blocker,” it scatters UV rays to prevent them from touching the skin like a shield. Worldwide ingredients are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.
- Chemical sunscreen: Chemical sunscreens protect us from UV rays by titillating them like a sponge. Worldwide ingredients include oxybenzone, homosalate, octocrylene, and avobenzone.
How does sunscreen prevent premature aging?
Sunscreen prevents aging skin by blocking UVA rays.
“UVA rays are the sun rays that can lead to wrinkles and age/sunspots. UVA rays can pass through windows, which is why sunscreen should be worn every day, plane if we are not outside.”
What are some spare benefits of sunscreen?
If the fact that it can prevent cancer isn’t unbearable for you, there are spare benefits of sunscreen.
Moisture: Sunscreens often contain ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and other ingredients that hydrate and nourish the skin. Dry skin is increasingly susceptible to sun forfeiture and acne.
Dyspigmentation: sun exposure can rationalization visionless spots, melasma, and uneven skin tone. Sunscreen can help prevent these conditions from occurring and prevent these conditions from worsening if they have once occurred.
Other light form blocking: Mineral sunblock protects versus undecorous lights from our phones, tablets, computers, and televisions. Although undecorous light will not requite us sunburn or skin cancer, undecorous light can contribute to premature white-haired seen as increased pigment and loss of skin proteins such as collagen, keratin, and elastin which causes wrinkles and loose skin.
What type of sunscreen do I need?
“I recommend wholesale spectrum sunscreen for my patients. Wholesale spectrum sunscreen will protect versus both UVA and UVB rays.”
The official recommendation for SPF (sunburn protection factor) from the American Academy of Dermatology is SPF 30 as this will woodcut 97% of UV rays. Unfortunately, there is no sunscreen that blocks 100% of the sun’s UV rays. Moreover recommended is a water-resistant sunscreen if you are going to be outside. Plane if you are not swimming, a water-resistant sunscreen is helpful when perspiring.
For patients who have melasma, hyperpigmentation, visionless spots, or sensitive skin, I recommend mineral sunblock.
You can take a squint at our sunscreen options available to find the right one that works for you.
What are tips to wield sunscreen properly?
“Sunscreen should be unromantic to any exposed zone of skin. It should be unromantic to dry skin 15 minutes prior to going outside. Sunscreen should be reapplied every 2 hours or sooner without swimming and sweating. Remember to wield sunscreen to your feet, neck, ears, and scalp.”
If using spray sunscreen, wield liberally until the skin glistens and lightly rub in without to ensure plane coverage.
What parts of the soul are most important to put sunscreen on?
Any part of the soul that is receiving sun exposure is important to put sunscreen on.
“Skin cancers are most wontedly found on the scalp, face, ears, lips, neck, chest, arms, and hands. These are areas that are often exposed to sun on a daily understructure which is why sunscreen should be worn every day.”
Will sunscreen prevent me from getting unbearable vitamin D in the winter?
Sunscreen does subtract the value of vitamin D that is synthesized from sun exposure. However, vitamin D synthesis from sun exposure increased our risk of skin cancer. Skin cancer is the number one type of cancer in The United States of America.
“We can get increasingly than unbearable Vitamin D from our nutrition without increasing our risk of skin cancer. Foods naturally rich in Vitamin D include oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), egg yolks, red meat, liver, mushrooms, etc. There are moreover many foods fortified with Vitamin D such as cereal, milk, orange juice, etc. Vitamin D can moreover be taken in pill form.”
Do you teach all patients to wear sunscreen every day?
YES! As discussed above, UVA rays can penetrate through windows. This ways we are getting “sun exposure” while sitting in our cars and through the windows at work. That’s why it’s important to wear sunscreen in many unexpected places (including indoors).
And plane though we live in Cleveland, OH where sunshine can be sparse, 80% of the sun’s harmful UV rays can penetrate through the clouds. Additionally, UV rays will reflect off of snow and increase the risk of sunburn. This is moreover true of water and sand.
While it may seem like you can take a unravel from sunscreen in the winter or months where we see increasingly gray skies than blue, the simple truth is that sunscreen should be worn every single day. Let’s make it a goal, together, to wear sunscreen every day of 2024.
