Sun Safety: What Should You Know?

While spending time outdoors has many benefits, such as reducing stress, providing physical activity options, and access to vitamin D, exposing the skin to harmful sun rays poses a risk of skin cancer. It may increase. Most types of skin cancer are caused by exposure to ultraviolet light (UV). Ultraviolet rays can penetrate deep into the skin and damage or kill skin cells. However, there are steps that can be taken to protect the skin from the harmful effects of the sun.

Risk mitigation

The most effective way to reduce the risk of skin damage and cancer is to minimize direct skin exposure to the sun.

• Clothing: Wearing clothing made of a densely woven fabric that covers your skin (such as long-sleeved tops) provides some protection from UV rays. Dark clothing is more effective because it absorbs more UV light than lighter shades and reduces the amount of UV light that reaches the skin.
• Hat: For best protection, wear a hat with a wide brim that covers your face, ears, and neck.
• Sunglasses: Sunglasses protect not only the thin and sensitive skin around the eyes, but also the eyes themselves. They can reduce the development of cataracts that can occur if the surface of the eye is burned. Reflected sunlight (from water or snow) is especially dangerous to the eyes. Avoid looking directly into the sun, even when wearing sunglasses. It can cause permanent damage to the eyes.
• Sunshade: Staying in the shade to avoid direct sunlight provides some protection from UV rays, but you should wear sunscreen and protective clothing.
• Sunscreen: A generous amount of sunscreen with a high sunscreen coefficient (SPF) is important, but it should not be considered sufficient. Most effective when combined with other sun safety measures. To be as effective as possible, it should be reapplied frequently and used within the expiration date.

Sun safety. Image Credit: kordeo / Shutterstock.com

What is the Sunscreen Factor (SPF)?

Sun protection factor (SPF) is Effectiveness of It is a specific sunscreen and is related to the extent to which the product protects the skin from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light (UV). UV radiation has a broad spectrum and can be divided into different types of radiation, including UVA and UVB radiation. Exposure to UVA remains constant, with cumulative effects over time, breaking down elastin and collagen and reducing elasticity.

UVB exposure increases during the summer and causes acute skin changes such as sunburn and pigmentation, but also chronic changes such as photocarcinogenesis. Photocarcinogenesis is the result of biochemical changes that lead to skin cancer.

SPF is a measure of UVB radiation protection provided by sunscreen products and is measured by the amount of UVB absorbed. In 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration provided a clear formula for calculating SPF. SPF provides the untreated skin with the UVB dose required to produce one minimum erythema dose (MED; the minimum dose of UV light required to cause redness of the skin) after application of sunscreen products. Defined as divided by the UV light that causes.

When applied, this equation shows that 15 SPFs correlate with 93% UVB absorption, 30 SPFs correlate with 96.7% absorption, and 50 SPFs correlate with 98% UVB absorption.

In the UK, the product also receives a star rating, which measures the degree of protection from UVA radiation. Stars range from 0 to 5 and indicate the percentage of UVA absorbed by the product compared to UVB. This system awards stars according to the ratio of protection from both UVA and UVB (5 stars indicate that UVA and UVB protection is about the same), so low SPF products have high stars. You can attach it.

Therefore, it is important to choose a product that has a high SPF and a high star rating. A good level of sunscreen is a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 and a minimum of 4 stars.

How to apply sunscreen

Apply plenty of sunscreen. If you apply it thinly, the amount of SPF may not come out. Ideally, it should be applied twice to all areas of exposed skin. 30 minutes before exposure to sunlight and before exposure again.

Even if labeled as water resistant, it should be reapplied frequently, approximately every 2 hours, immediately after swimming, showering, sweating, or towel drying.

Top tips on sun safety

• Protect your skin with clothing such as hats, T-shirts and sunglasses, and always choose a sunscreen product with an SPF 30 or higher. Sunscreen should be applied generously and frequently.
• Do not burn your skin.
• Spend time in the shade in the middle of the day when the sun is strongest.
• Pay particular attention to children and do not expose infants to direct sunlight.

reference:

• Dale Wilson, B., Moon, S. , And Armstrong, F. (2012). A comprehensive review of the current state of UV and sunscreen. Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology, Five(9), 18–23.
• Latha, MS, Martis, J., Shobha, V., Sham Shinde, R., Bangera, S., Krishnankutty, B., Ballary, S., Varughese, S., Rao, P. , & Naveen Kumar, BR (2013). Sunscreen: Review. Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology, 6(1), 16–26.
• Ma, Y. , & Yoo, J. (2021) Sunscreen History: Updated view. Journal of Cosmetic dermatology, 20 (4), 1044-1049. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.14004
• Anon, (2019). Sun safety.. [online] available: https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/sun-safety.htm..
• www.bad.org.uk. (Nd). British Association of Dermatologists-Sunscreen Fact Sheet.. [online] It is available at https://www.bad.org.uk/skin-cancer/sunscreen-fact-sheet.