At this point in the season we absolutely need some sunlight!
We’ve probably all had a low grade Vitamin D deficiency during our long winter,
and the sun’s UV B light will help us make Vitamin D through the skin, and fix
that deficit. Sunlight is good for people and makes us happy. I want everyone
to get out there and get some of that good stuff with this great weather. However,
we should all know by now that excessive sun exposure causes skin cancer,
premature aging, dark spots and wrinkles. So what IS excessive sun exposure?
The answer to that depends on so many variables that it is not really possible
to tell any one person exactly how long he or she can spend in the sun safely. However,
I found interesting formula on-line, which calculates how much unblocked
sunlight you NEED to make your daily requirement of vitamin D, based on wearing
t-shirt and shorts. I found it fun to do, and it gives you an idea of the
factors that affect your sun exposure:
You have to look up your latitude/longitude,
and add some other information: the date, your surroundings (lawn, concrete,
old snow or new snow?), and other non-intuitive and intuitive factors. I
plugged myself in to real winter: mid-January, partly cloudy skies, Worcester,
MA and came out with 52 minutes of midday sun needed (on face, hands and arms) to
make the necessary Vitamin D. Then I plugged in today’s actual date March 27,
and found I only I needed 8 minutes of midday sun to make my daily D. To be
generous, I could double that and say that’s all I need without sunscreen
(especially since I’m not wearing shorts and a T-shirt just yet). And since I’m
likely to spend more than 16 minutes outdoors just walking my dogs, it is
absolutely time to start wearing sunscreen.
I
spend my time trying to improve the wrinkles and signs of age in people with
some of the most amazing medical cosmetic products around, but I would rather prevent them, by teaching people to use
good sunscreen. You may be young and think you will never have to worry about
these things, but you’ll thank me later in life. Sunblock works. People who use
it have less signs of aging, and less skin cancer.
So
what’s the best sunscreen to use? First of all, you need at least an SPF of 15,
but don’t need more than an SPF of 30. SPF means sun protection factor and an
SPF of 15 means you can spend 15 times longer in the sun before you burn
compared to when you have no sunblock on. How long is that? As I described
above, it’s different for everyone. I recommend a water resistant “physical barrier”,
which is something with either zinc oxide alone or zinc oxide and titanium
dioxide. These are safe for everyone,
because the skin does not absorb them, so they’re non-toxic, and they really
block out dangerous rays and prevent cancer, brown age spots and wrinkles. There
are 15 other FDA-approved chemical barriers that work to block UV A and UV B
light, and you want to make sure your sunblock blocks BOTH UV A and UV B,
because they are both responsible for skin cancer. Remember that UV A can cross
glass, unless it’s tinted to screen out UV light, so you are getting sun
exposure even when you’re driving in your car. It’s important to wear your
sunblock on long car rides even in the winter! And re-apply that sunblock every
3-4 hours, or if you are swimming or sweating every 2 hours.
But what if you already have sun-damaged
skin from your carefree youth? Well, there are lots of medical and cosmetic
products to improve the wrinkles, hyperpigmentation and tiny spider veins that
come with sun exposure and time. I would be happy to discuss them with you as
well. In the meantime you can prevent further damage for the cost of a bottle
of good sunscreen (I’ve got that too, and would be happy to provide you with
some!).
-Dr. Jenny
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