Preventing your skin from future damage by wearing SPF daily is one of the best things you can do for your skin. Today is better than next week, or never at all! Nowadays, we see the statement everywhere, “Wear your sunscreen”. These are not just empty words, sunscreen is advocated for a good reason.
It will make a huge difference to the health of your skin!
As Alexandra Sifferlin points out in an article from Time Magazine, “Australian researchers report that people who apply sunscreen everyday show 24% less skin aging compared to participants who only used sunscreen part of the time”. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 900 people under age 55 and discovered those regularly using sunscreen were less likely to have increased skin aging after 4.5 years — even those in middle age”. The article also points out that even those who had previously experienced sun damage had improvements after wearing sunscreen. So not only will you look younger and age more gracefully, you are protecting yourself from the known dangers of skin cancer as well.
In another article, written by Kimberly Holland, and medically reviewed by George Krucik MD, Kimberly Holland writes, “Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. New cases of skin cancer outnumber new cases of breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancer every year. The older you get, the higher your chance for developing skin cancer. By age 65, about half of all Americans will develop either basal cell or squamous cell cancer at least once.” Although we love getting our dose of Vitamin D, we need to be sure we are protecting our skin while doing so.
One question we commonly get here at Solace is “Which SPF should I wear?” It’s important to note that the SPF number refers to how long it would take for the sun’s radiation to redden your skin when using the product as directed.
Steven Q. Wang, MD, is the director of Dermatologic Surgery and Dermatology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New Jersey. He explains, “Ideally, with SPF 30 it would take you 30 times longer to burn than if you weren’t wearing sunscreen. The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends a water-resistant, broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher for any extended outdoor activity. Regardless of the SPF, though, it’s important to apply one ounce (two tablespoons) 30 minutes before going outside and reapply it every two hours or immediately after swimming or sweating.” SPF 30 is recommended by our team. Applied properly, it provides the protection your skin needs. A high quality product is always better than one with only a high SPF number.
If you have questions about skin protection and the best sunscreen to suit your personal needs, feel free to give us a call at 978-851-8600. We’re always happy to discuss this topic with our guests.
Rachael – Team Solace