sunscreen

You Are Probably Applying Sunscreen Wrong

April 4, 2019 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

You are probably applying sunscreen wrong and you didn’t even know it. New research took a look at how people apply sunscreen and found most people are either missing their faces entirely or forgetting one crucial part.

How You Are Applying Sunscreen Wrong

Scientists at the University of Liverpool conducted a study involving 84 participants. The researchers wanted to see specifically how people were applying SPF to their faces. What they found was that most people were applying sunscreen and SPF moisturizers incorrectly.

Each of the participants was told to apply sunscreen and SPF moisturizers as they normally would. Afterward, they were exposed to UV radiation and had photos taken with a UV-sensitive camera.

While most participants felt they applied sunscreen correctly, they missed a crucial part: their eyelids (and sometimes their face entirely). The comparison between sunscreen and SPF moisturizer, according to the study, revealed participants missed greater areas when they applied moisturizer.

“People were applying cream (and) going out in the sun thinking they were protected,” Austin McCormick, one of the study’s authors, said. “And yet one of the most vulnerable areas was left unprotected.”

Eleven percent of participants missed their entire face when applying sunscreen. Nearly 17 percent missed their face using the moisturizer. Of those using moisturizer, 21 percent missed their eyelids, a crucial and commonly missed area of the face.

How You SHOULD Apply Sunscreen

These findings are especially important because the face (and eyelids) are high-risk areas for skin cancer. Some sun exposure is good for you but, if you are applying SPF, you are probably spending an extended period of time outdoors. So, it is important to know how to correctly apply the product.

Most adults need one ounce of sunscreen to completely cover their body. That’s about enough to fill a shot glass.
Be sure you rub the sunscreen into your skin thoroughly (you really shouldn’t still see white marks).
Apply your sunscreen to all bare parts of your skin. Don’t forget areas like your eyelids, ears, top of your feet and hands, and the back of your neck.
Put sunscreen on 30 minutes before you plan on heading out.
Re-apply the same amount of sunscreen every two hours while you’re in the sun.

It is also recommended you use UV-filtered sunglasses, hats, and other items to protect you from the sun’s harmful rays.

If you are concerned about your skin’s health, watch out for changes in your skin. Anyone who notices a bump or lesion around their eyelids should be examined by a doctor. Skin cancer is usually detected late because many patients aren’t looking at their eyelids and other prone areas. However, if you take note of the guidelines above, you’ll seriously reduce your risk!

If you’re wondering about what sunscreen brand is best for your needs, check out our article “What’s the Best Sunscreen for the Summer?“

Simple Safety Tips for Barbecuing Memorial Day Weekend

May 24, 2015 By Lori Kelley 3 Comments

Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer, and with it comes with some seasonal dangers. Barbecuing is one of the activities which comes with some risks. It’s important to take action to help reduce the likelihood of accidents happening when you decide to begin grilling. As with many things, preventing injuries from occurring not only will save you a lot of pain and suffering, it will also be good for your pocketbook.

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the barbecuing season for many people. For those who barbecue, they’ll also be spending more time in the sun. It’s essential to make sure you put plenty of sunscreen and proper clothing on to protect your skin. The vast majority of people simply don’t know how to correctly put on sunscreen, so it’s worth learning how. It’s also important to make sure that you reapply it often during the day. Doing so can save you thousands of dollars by keeping your skin wrinkle-free longer as you grow older by not having the need to purchase expensive wrinkle creams. It can also help prevent costly medical expenses that would come with the development of skin cancer.

Another major risk that comes with barbecuing is food poisoning. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that some 48 million Americans will contract food poisoning this year. To help prevent food poisoning, it’s important to not to leave food sitting out for extended periods of time in the sun before cooking it. For meat that you put on the grill, make sure that it gets thoroughly cooked. It’s advisable to use a meat thermometer to ensure that heat is getting caught throughout, not just burning the outside, which can be a common occurrence with barbecues. It’s also important to wash all vegetables before you put them on the grill. By taking some simple precautions, you can reduce the risk of getting food poisoning when barbecuing.

The space around barbecue grill can be a dangerous place for kids. It’s important to keep children away from hot grills where they could have an accident that could result in the child getting burned. Experts recommend a 3-foot kid-free zone around barbecues to lessen the danger.

It’s also important to make sure that the barbecue grill is clean to begin the summer season. Many people put away their grills for winter without properly cleaning them. Fat and grease that accumulates over the grilling season can catch fire and send up flames unexpectedly which can injure a person. Cobwebs can have the same effect. Clean the barbecue grill to prevent these issues.

(Photo courtesy of slgckgc)

50 SPF Sunscreen Protects, but Not Enough to Stop Skin Cancer

June 11, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

Study: sunscreen protects, but can't prevent melanoma cancer

It’s that time of the year when the sunscreen comes out, but don’t be deceived into believing that rubbing on 50 SPF sunscreen is enough to protect your skin from the deadliest form of skin cancer. A study published in the journal Nature found sunscreen with high SPF protection helps to reduce most sun damage, but there’s still enough radiation which penetrates to the skin to cause malignant melanoma.

The study also determined how ultraviolet rays managed to damage DNA in skin cells. Until this study, how this happened hadn’t been well understood. The researchers were able to determine the sun’s radiation ends up harming a critical gene called TP53. This gene normally works to help heal broken DNA, and prevent tumor progression, but when harmed with radiation doesn’t work as effectively. While sunscreens with high SPF protection helped to limit the harm to this gene, it wasn’t able to eliminate it. In the study, SPF 50 sunscreen helped protect mice which developed fewer tumors than unprotected mice, but some of the protected mice still developed the disease.

The results from the research came with both good and bad news for those who use sunscreen. Richard Marais, the director of the Cancer Research U.K. Manchester Institute, and lead author of the study notes, “It’s the first experimental evidence that sunscreen actually protects you from melanoma, but it also shows that it doesn’t offer complete protection. You need to use other strategies as well.”

Doctors actually suggest a three-step approach when it comes to protecting yourself from the sun, with sunscreen being the third of these steps. The best defense against the sun’s harmful rays is to stay out of the sun whenever possible. Try to stay indoors during the hottest portion of the day, and plan activities which keep you away from direct sunlight whenever possible.

The second step is to protect yourself from the sun when you do have to go outside. You should seek shaded areas whenever possible, wear a wide-brimmed hat or use an umbrella to shade yourself when you’re walking around, and wear clothes which provide protection against the sun. Cover up as much as possible. This means wearing long sleeves and long pants, along with shoes which cover your feet.

The third step of sun protection is to use a strong SPF sunscreen. It’s important to remember that sunscreen will not last the entire day, and it should be reapplied every two hours to be effective. It doesn’t matter the strength of the SPF, you still need to reapply it every couple of hours. You should also put on more than you think you need since studies have showed most people only put on 25% of the amount that they should. If you know someone who doesn’t like to put on enough sunscreen, remind them it’s the most effective way to prevent skin from aging.

No matter how much money you spend on sun protection, it will be much less than the cost of actually getting skin cancer. Look at these costs as an insurance policy to reduce the risks of you getting it. The more we learn about how much the sun can damage our skin, the more important it is to protect your skin as much as possible for both health and financial reasons.

For those of you who have teenage children who enjoy going to the beach and laying out in the sun as much as possible, take the time to show them the following video. The sun doesn’t seem like something which poses much danger to you when you’re young, but getting even a single bad sunburn when you’re young can greatly increase your chances of getting skin cancer.

(Photo courtesy of earthlydelights)

Do You Know How to Properly Use Sunscreen? Probably Not

May 31, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain Leave a Comment

With the weather getting warmer, in all likelihood you’re going to be breaking out the sunscreen soon, if you haven’t already done so. The problem is that you probably aren’t using your sunscreen correctly, along with making some assumptions about it which are completely wrong.

Using the product correctly can be a life and death decision. There are roughly 3.5 million people diagnosed with skin cancer each year, with the incidence of all skin cancers, including melanoma which is the deadliest type, increasing. If applied correctly, sunscreen can be an effective way to help prevent this disease. The old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is perfectly illustrated with the proper use of sunscreen. No matter how much you spend on sun protection, it will be far less expensive than what you’ll end up paying in medical care if you end up getting diagnosed with skin cancer.

Here are some of the ways you may be incorrectly using sunscreen:

Not Putting on Enough

If you’re like most people, you spread on a thin layer across the exposed areas of your body. The problem is this isn’t enough. There have been a number of major studies which all indicate most people only use one-quarter the amount of sunscreen they should for full protection. That’s right. You need to increase the amount you usually put on 300%. The next time you put a dab on your skin, increase it three times and you will be getting the proper protection. Another effective way to do this is to place on a second and third coat once you think you have finished. While there are plenty of products that you can use less of and get away with it, sunblock isn’t one of them. You need to use a lot more than you think you need to protect yourself. If you need motivation to do so, just remember that it’s the best anti-aging product out there.

Applying It Once a Day

A lot of people believe if they apply sunscreen in the morning, then they’re good for the entire day. Unfortunately, putting on sunscreen isn’t like taking a pill once a day or applying a medicine you only need to do once a day. Sunscreen will wear off, and it’ll wear off rather quickly. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends reapplying sunscreen every two hours, even if you aren’t swimming or sweating. Waterproof sunscreen also needs to be reapplied every two hours. If you don’t reapply it on a regular basis, the sunscreen that you put on at in the morning will be effectively gone by noon.

Believing a Higher SPF Allows You to Stay out Longer

There are quite a few people who believe that if you put on a high numbered SPF, you’re able to stay out longer in the sun than if you put on a lower SPF sunscreen. For example, they believe that 50 SPF allows you to stay out longer than 30 SPF. The problem, as mentioned above, is that no matter what SPF screen you’re using, it will wear off in a couple of hours. The higher SPF will block out more of the harmful rays while it’s on your skin, but it doesn’t allow you to stay out in the sun for longer periods of time without reapplying it.

You’re Getting the Protection Listed in the Sunscreen

Another huge assumption most people make is that they are actually receiving the SPF protection listed on the sunscreen. In a recent survey from Consumer Reports, 18 of 20 bottles of sunscreen tested came in at a lower level of protection than the bottle claimed. Most of these came in at somewhere between 4% and 40% less than the number that was listed on the bottle. That means that if you thought you were getting 30 SPF protection, you might actually be getting lower than 20 SPF protection, depending on the brand that you bought. In other words, to be safe, you should be purchasing higher SPF protection and assuming that it will be lower than advertised. If you want to make sure you’re getting 30 SPF protection, you should opt for a 50 SPF bottle. It’s not going to hurt you to have the extra protection if it’s as strong as advertised, but it will help protect your skin if it happens to give a lot less protection than is listed on the bottle.

Double the SPF Numbers Gives Double the Protection

There are a lot of people who believe if they use 30 SPF sunscreen, they are getting double the protection of 15 SPF, or those who opt for 100 SPF are getting more than three times the protection of 30 SPF. This isn’t how the numbering SPF system works. The AAD points out that no sunscreen can eliminate 100% of the harmful rays, but that there isn’t much of an increase in protection once you hit 30 SPF. Here’s the general guideline of the effectiveness of the different SPF numbers

15 SPF blocks 93% of sun rays
30 SPF blocks 97% of sun rays
50 SPF blocks 98% of sun rays
100 SPF blocks 99% of sun rays

15 SPF Is Acceptable

It wasn’t too long ago most doctors recommended 15 SPF as being strong enough. That is no longer the case with most dermatologists recommending 30 SPF or higher these days. Since many sunscreens contain less protection than they advertise, you probably want to go with something even stronger than 30 SPF. This is especially true if you have a family history of skin cancer, or you’re out and about in a place with which has especially intense sun like the in the desert, at altitude (there’s a 4% increase in UV exposure for every 1000 feet elevation gained), and the tropics (more sunlight is able to pass through the atmosphere the closer you’re staying to the equator).

Your Tan Helps Protect You

As the summer progresses and a tan forms from being out in the sun, many people believe that their tan helps protect them from sun damage. They believe their tan allows them to use a lower SPF sunscreen, or not apply it as often, and they will still be okay. Since they see a browning rather than a the typical redness from a burn, they think it’s okay. The problem is that your skin doesn’t get used to the sun over time, and the AAD notes there isn’t such a thing as a “safe tan.” In fact, having a tan is a sign you have sustained some damage to your skin.

Sunscreen Is the Primary Defense

Many people think of sunscreen as being the primary defense against the sun, but it should actually be a safeguard after other defenses have been put into place. The first line of defense should be to avoid the sun in the first place. If you are going to be outside where avoiding the sun is impossible, the second line of defense is to protect yourself from the sun. This means seeking shade where possible, using an umbrella or wide-brim hat to keep the sun from getting to your skin, and wearing sun-protective clothing. When these aren’t possible is when sunscreen comes into play, meaning that it’s actually a third line of defense, not the first.

You Don’t Need It on a Cloudy, Cool or Hazy Day

While it may not seem like you are in danger of getting burned on a cloudy day, the truth is that this is when many people do get bad sunburns because they don’t put on any sun protection. Even on a cloudy day, as much as 80% of ultra violet (UV) rays manage to pass through the clouds. If you happen to be in a place where there is ice, sand, snow or water, these can reflect the UV rays back toward you and burning you just as much as direct sunlight.

That You Need New Sunscreen Each Year (or Use It until It’s Gone)

There are usually two types of people when it comes to when to replace sunscreen. One believes that it needs to be replaced each year to be effective, while the other keeps bottles until the last little bit is used no matter how long that may be. Both are wrong. A sunscreen’s effectiveness lasts about three years after the bottle is opened. You don’t need to throw away all your sunscreen at the end of the season, but those bottles which have been around for a few seasons probably need to be replaced.

If you’re still not convinced that you should take more precautions to properly put on sunscreen, watch the following video. It’s a good reminder of why it’s important (and pass it along to all those young people in your life who could benefit from seeing it). While it’s aimed at those who are younger, it applies no matter how old you may be.

(Photo courtesy of bark)