What to look for
It can be confusing when going to buy sunscreen, so here are
some useful tips.
More expensive does not always mean better. All sunscreens have to comply with EU regulations. It is fine to buy a cheaper cream as long as it has a high level of both UVB and UVA protection and you apply it thickly and frequently – every couple of hours. Remember to cover all exposed bits of skin including ears and toes. Ensure you first put it on about 20 minutes before going out into the sun.
More expensive does not always mean better. All sunscreens have to comply with EU regulations. It is fine to buy a cheaper cream as long as it has a high level of both UVB and UVA protection and you apply it thickly and frequently – every couple of hours. Remember to cover all exposed bits of skin including ears and toes. Ensure you first put it on about 20 minutes before going out into the sun.
The one you choose should also be photostable – in other
words the filters do not break down in the sun.
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| Enjoying the shade |
Checking a product’s protection level
SPF
Sun Protection Factor (SPF) indicates the product’s ability
to protect the skin from UVB damage. The higher the number, the more protection
you get.
UVA protection
UVA rays are said to penetrate the skin more deeply than UVB
and are associated with ageing as well as now being regarded as a cause of skin
cancer. Choosing protection can be baffling as there are two different systems
in use by manufacturers.
The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) points out
that according to the EU Recommendation, the UVA protection for each sunscreen
should be at least a third of the labelled SPF. A product that achieves this
requirement will be labelled with a UVA logo, the letters “UVA” printed in a
circle.
“The UVA in the circle is EU standard, meaning that the UVA
protection meets the minimum standard advised by the EU recommendation,” says
BAD. “Therefore the UVA in a circle should be used as a baseline to determine
if a product offers UVA protection.”
You may see a UV star rating on the packaging. This measures
the level of UVA protection in a product in relation to UVB. It was created in
1992. Boots was the first in the UK to adopt a system for measuring levels of
UVA protection in suncreams.
Boots UK sun care expert Clare O’Connor explains that
a five-star UVA product offers approximately equal protection against UVA rays
as well as UVB rays.
The UV circle was introduced more recently than the original
“star system”. BAD advises people to look for a high SPF (30 or more) to show
UVB protection and at least 4 UVA stars and / or the UVA circle.
A sunscreen with a low SPF may have a high star rating as the ratio between the UVA and UVB protection is roughly the same but not because it contains lots of UVA protection.
A sunscreen with a low SPF may have a high star rating as the ratio between the UVA and UVB protection is roughly the same but not because it contains lots of UVA protection.
Sunbathing and vitamin D
The current advice from BAD regarding vitamin D is: “You
should not sunbathe to increase your vitamin D levels as you may increase your
risk of skin cancer in doing so. Small amounts of incidental sunlight, as you
might get through your daily activities, may help to boost your vitamin D
levels; just exposing your face and forearms to the sun should be enough (these
are areas of skin that are generally exposed to the sun during our everyday
activities).”
It also points out that presently there is no definitive
guide to how long you can spend in the sun. There are so many variables such as
skin colour, strength of UV on a particular day, where you are geographically
and other lifestyle factors that a one-size-fits-all approach is impossible.
How do sun screens work?
There are two types. “Absorbers” which are also known as chemical sunscreens and as the name suggests absorb harmful UV radiation and “physical” which act like a shield and reflect it from the skin.
By Daralyn Danns
