Are you protecting yourself well enough from skin cancer? Do you know the best kind of sunscreen to use? Know all about sunscreens and how you can protect yourself from the UV rays.

2. Skin Cancer According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one
in five Americans will develop skin
cancer in the course of a lifetime. About
90 percent of nonmelanoma skin
cancers are associated with exposure to
ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun,
and about 86 percent of melanomas can
be attributed to exposure to UV radiation
from the sun.
A person’s risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had more than five sunburns at
any age and one or more blistering sunburns in childhood or adolescence more than
double a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life. Melanoma kills more
than 8,000 Americans each year. If you’re one of those people who are adamant
about always wearing sunscreen, you might think you’re safe from all these alarming
statistics. Think again. Sunscreen is not always enough to protect you from the sun’s
harmful rays.

3. Ultra-Violet Rays
• The rays everyone needs to worry about are ultraviolet
(UV) rays. The two of concern are called UVA and UVB
rays. UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin and are
more associated with skin aging while UVB rays are
shorter and more associated with sunburns. Both rays can
cause skin cancer. In order to protect yourself, it is
necessary to wear sunscreen, but you should also know
that it cannot fully shield your body from the sun’s rays.

4. What Does SPF
mean?
• SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. It refers to the
sunscreen’s ability to protect your skin from the damaging
UVB rays. The SPF value refers to the amount of times
longer it would take your skin to burn while using
sunscreen compared to if you weren’t wearing sunscreen.
For example, SPF 30 means that it would take your skin 30
times longer to get the same sunburn that you would get
without wearing any sunscreen.
• So the logical thing to do would be to use the highest SPF
possible, right? Wrong. The mentality of the consumer
who wants maximum protection from the sun might be to
purchase high SPF sunscreen, but often times it can end
up being less protective than a lower SPF. Sunscreen is not
as effective if used improperly, and a high SPF value can
sometimes make people feel invincible, leading to misuse
of the product. People will apply and reapply sunscreen
less often and stay out in the sun longer than they would
if they were using a lower SPF, overexposing them to
harmful UVA and UVB rays. The FDA says it does not have
adequate data to say that an SPF greater than 50 provides
more protection than an SPF of 50. Consequently, in 2011,
the FDA proposed the banning of sunscreens with an SPF
greater than 50, saying that they are misleading, but it has
not been put into action as of right now.

5. FDA’s Recent
Regulations
Within the past couple years, the FDA has
reevaluated sunscreen products on the market
and found some need for improvements. New
labels and regulations have been required for
non-prescription sunscreen products. Since
previous sunscreen products did not provide
much or any protection against UVA rays, new
measures have been taken to do so. The FDA
requires companies to label sunscreens that
protect against UVA and UVB rays as “Broad
Spectrum” sunscreen along with the SPF value.
It is recommended that you use a sunscreen
labeled “Broad Spectrum” with an SPF of at
least 15. Any sunscreen not labeled as “Broad
Spectrum” or that has an SPF value between 2
and 14 has only been shown to help prevent
sunburn, not to decrease the risk of skin
cancer and skin aging.

6. • The FDA also stated that there is no
such thing as “waterproof” or
“sweatproof” sunscreens and
required all companies to remove
those labels from their products. No
matter what, a sunscreen’s
effectiveness is not the same after
coming into contact with water.
However, if a product passes certain
tests, companies can label them
as “water resistant” sunscreen with
the amount of time it is water
resistant; only 40 or 80 minutes is
allowed. “Drug Facts” must also be
included somewhere on the
container of the product.

7. • There is no proof that sunscreens prevent
most skin cancer, and no sunscreen
completely blocks UV rays.