(Originally Posted Wednesday, June 22, 2011)
I am so torn on the whole sunscreen issue. On the one hand I have
incredibly sensitive skin that is extremely fair, burns easily, I have a
family history of skin/other cancers and I already have sun damage. On
the other hand, I have sensitive skin that has already been damaged by
what I believe is a lifelong exposure to
parabens
(preservatives found in most commercial personal care products), plus
recent research suggests vitamin D, aka "the sunshine vitamin" is
essential in helping ward off some serious cancers and a host of other
dastardly diseases, commercial sunscreens leave my face
red/hot/irritated, and finally, I am committed to trying to reduce the
amount of chemicals that go in and on my body. Furthermore, I get asked
quite often whether SkinKissed Naturals'
Go Green Tea
facial moisturizers have sunscreen in them. So what is a person to
do? I decided to look into this issue further and share some surprising
information with you.
First of all, Go Green Tea facial
moisturizers do not have sunscreen in them, because adding an SPF to a
moisturizer automatically makes it an over-the-counter drug according to
the FDA, and my insurance will not cover OTC drugs. However, if you
have sensitive skin like me that does not respond well to traditional
sunscreens, but would still like to put on some sunscreen in order to be
out in the sun, I have a suggestion for you: Apply your
Go Green Tea
moisturizer as you would any other day and then layer your sunscreen
over the top of that. This way, you will have the more natural, gentle,
good-for-your-skin ingredients directly on your skin and can still get
the sunscreen protection you want as well (and perhaps get a bit of a
buffer from the harsher chemicals and ingredients in the sunscreen).
THE BAD NEWS
As
far as the other information I found out about sunscreens, I have some
bad news and some good news. I'll start with the bad news, but to
understand it fully, I need to give a little background information
first. To start with, UV radiation comes in two forms:
UVA (Ultra Violet-A rays) and
UVB (Ultra Violet-B rays).
UVA
rays are a longer wave radiation that penetrate deep into the skin and
is generally referred to as causing premature aging of the skin and skin
cancer.
UVB rays are a shorter wave radiation that only
penetrates the top layer of skin and is generally referred to as causing
sunburn and some cancers with repeated exposures.
SPF (Sun
Protection Factor) is a measure of how long you can stay in the sun
before getting sunburned, comparing bare skin to skin with sunscreen.
So as an example, an SPF 4 should allow me to stay in the sun 4 times
longer without getting burned than if I didn't have any sunscreen on at
all.
The bad news is that for years sunscreens only protected
against the UVB rays. It isn't until just recently that we have even
heard of or seen any sunscreens with UVA protection. So here is where
the bad news gets even worse. All this time we consumers have been
putting on our SPF 30 (or whatever), thinking we are protecting
ourselves from sunburn, skin cancer and premature aging, and we went and
spent the whole glorious day playing or relaxing in the sun. We were
thrilled if we didn't get sunburned, but meanwhile, the UVA rays that we
couldn't feel quite possibly had all that time to deeply penetrate and
damage our skin!
THE GOOD NEWS
So here is where the good news comes in. After a 30 year wait the
FDA has finally just come out with
new rules pertaining to sunscreen.
And although you may start to see some manufacturers labels reflecting
this change now, the industry has been given a year to comply with the
new testing and labeling requirements. Following is a summary of the
changes.
- Broad Spectrum - The FDA strongly
recommends using only sunscreens listed as "Broad Spectrum". This means
the sunscreen provides both the traditional UVB protection, as well as,
UVA protection. Only those sunscreens that provide both UVA and UVB
protection with at least an SPF 15+ can carry the "Broad Spectrum"
label. All other sunscreens with lower SPF numbers or UVB-only
protection must include only the SPF number on the label.
- Product Claims
- Only "Broad Spectrum" sunscreens with an SPF 15 or more can claim to
"decrease your risk of skin cancer, premature aging of the skin and
sunburn". Products with a lower SPF or UVB-only protection can only
claim they "help prevent sunburn".
- No More "Sunblock", "Sweatproof", "Waterproof"
- The FDA says no sunscreen completely blocks UV rays, and all
sunscreen loses significant effectiveness with sweating or in water.
They determined these terms are misleading and overstate their
effectiveness. Therefore, under the new rules, labels may carry the
term "water resistant" and then they must also state whether they
remain effective for 40 or 80 minutes while swimming or sweating, based
on testing. Furthermore, they must not state they are effective more
than 2 hours without re-application.
MORE CONCERNS
A
couple other things the FDA is looking into and thinking about
proposing for future rules has to do with products claiming SPF's over
50 and dosage. Apparently, the FDA has determined there is no evidence
that an SPF greater than 50 provides any additional benefit, and again,
is misleading.
The
EWG
(Environmental Working Group - a team of scientists, engineers, policy
experts, lawyers and computer programmers who pores over government
data, legal documents, scientific studies and conducts their own
laboratory tests to expose health and environmental threats and provides
solutions), agrees with the FDA's assessment of SPF 50+ products and
goes on to say studies show people wearing these products tend to stay
in the sun much longer with just one application, thereby increasing
their exposure to damaging UVA rays. Additionally, they believe there
may even be evidence that certain sunscreen chemicals actually
break down
when exposed to sunlight, forming free radicals and possibly
penetrating the skin, leading to potential DNA damage. Therefore, the
higher SPF products just provide an increased exposure to these
potentially harmful chemicals that do not provide any greater sun
protection anyway! The FDA responds to this saying sunscreen chemicals
have been used for years and they have no reason to believe they are not
safe, but report they will look into this further in the future.
Another
surprising (even shocking) thing I learned about sunscreen has to do
with proper dosage. The FDA plans to look into this area in the future
and come up with new rules. The EWG cites studies showing consumers
consistently apply only 1/5 - 2/3 the amount necessary to achieve the
SPF rating manufacturers use in their testing. They say this inadequate
dosing results in exponential cuts in protection due to the physics of
sunlight (which I don't understand, but just take their word for it).
They give an example of applying 1/4 of the amount of an SPF 30 product
provides you with just SPF 2.3 protection, and an SPF 100 product
becomes just SPF 3.2 protection! Say what?!
So just how much
are we talking about? EWG says we should be applying a full ounce
(about a palmful) evenly to all exposed skin, leaving about a full
teaspoon for our faces. So think of it this way...a typical 8 oz.
bottle of sunscreen will give you just 8 applications! That is a lot of
slathering! They also say not to rub it in too much (no more than 6
passes).
SUMMARY
The EWG
believes mineral sunscreens have the best safety profiles in general,
saying they are stable in sunlight, they do not appear to penetrate the
skin and they offer good UVA protection. However, if you just cannot
live with the whitish tinge and want something that disappears more
easily on your skin, they suggest opting for products with avobenzone at
3% for the best UVA protection. They believe we should avoid
oxybenzone and 4-MBC due to possible hormone disruption, especially in
kids' products. Personally, my sensitive skin does best with mineral
sunscreens without any parabens for preservatives, which I can easily
find in natural food markets.
In summary, the FDA gives the
following recommendations to help avoid sunburn, decrease your risk of
skin cancer and premature skin aging when we are in the sun:
- Wear protective clothing such as long sleeve shirts, long pants, broad brimmed hats and sunglasses
- Limit
your time in the sun, seek shade as much as possible and avoid sun
exposure between the hours of 10am-2pm when the sun's rays are at their
peak
- Use sunscreen with "Broad Spectrum" SPF 15+, following all label directions
- Re-apply sunscreen every 2 hours, more often if sweating or jumping in and out of the water