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	Choosing Your Sunscreen

UVA and UVB are two types of ultraviolet rays that alter the physical and chemical state of your skin. Though their effects vary, they still support each other's action.

UVB rays are the smoldering rays and cause quick skin reaction -- redness and swelling within a short while of sun exposure. While taking a good look at yourself in the mirror, you may not think about sun damage harming your skin. You may think your skin is glowing and there are hardly any wrinkles.

But appearances can be deceptive. The glow is the result of enhanced blood flow to the skin as a rescue answer to rectify the damage, and wrinkles are hardly evident as your skin has just endured an injury and is swollen.

UVB rays cause skin cancer and cataract. UVA rays are responsible for secretion of melanin, the skin pigment. Melanin is formed in the lowermost skin layers and comes to the surface in 2-3 days. At this point, you get a tan. But there is nothing to gloat over. Tan is your body’s protective mechanism against sun. It is a reaction to most likely harmful conditions you are exposing yourself to
To prevent freckles, age spots, pregnancy mask, or any other type of skin discoloration, stay away from UVA rays. Remember that glass windows block UVB rays, but are ineffective against UVA rays. UVA rays were previously considered to be less harmful, and it was believed you can tan safely by blocking UVB and get the tanning effect of UVA rays.

But it is not true. Latest research indicates that UVA rays may be potentially more harmful than UVB. They reach deep down inside the skin layers and cause photoaging and stimulate the development of melanoma, a highly dangerous variety of skin cancer.

Photo aging means aging of the skin due to sunlight. Collagen, a large protein, is the important skin building block. 90% of the skin mass consists of collagen that gives skin its firmness, strength, and elasticity. Skin can regenerate collagen fibers: grow new ones and destroy the damaged ones. UV rays mess with these chemical reactions and reduce collagen production while increasing collagen destruction. Collagen production becomes slow when we are in our 20s, and ultimately the only skin that remains is damaged collagen that is quite inflexible and unable to perform its basic function. The skin becomes inelastic and thus wrinkles appear.

Wrinkles happen to everybody at some point of time because of natural skin aging and gravity. But lack of proper sun protection, causes skin to age much quickly and this damage is irreversible. Skin care products offer 2 types of protection: physical and chemical. Physical protection stops and/or reflects sun rays, and chemical protection soaks them up, just like melanin, before they can cause any damage.
Physical sun screens are zinc oxide and titanium oxide, of which zinc oxide (Z-Cote) is more powerful. Today creams containing Z-Cote are sold in wearable form, meaning they don’t resemble white paste but build an unobtrusive barrier to reflect both UVB and UVA sun rays. The strongest UVB screen is PABA, but it is not suitable for all, as it can result in an allergic reaction. Other types of chemical screens are:

Cinnamates – suck up UVB
Benzophenones -- suck up UVA
Anthranilates -- suck up UVA and UVB.

Normally, your sunscreen product will have many protective constituents because their combination offers a better protective shield. The FDA requires every batch of sunscreen products to undergo stringent SPF testing to check the effectiveness of the product. As of now, sun protection factor is applicable to UVB rays only; further research is required to set the standards for UVA protection.

As a rule, SPF number indicates the time you can safely remain in the sun without burning. If you have fair skin and burn in 10 minutes without protection, SPF 15 will let you remain in the sun 15 times longer (150 minutes). For dark skin and burning period of 30 minutes, you can stay outside for 450 minutes by using the same product. This time is highly estimated one, and doesn’t consider real life conditions: wind, humidity, season, your location, etc.

E.g. humidity and wind heighten the power of sun rays, and your SPF 15 lotion may show far less effect if used on a windy day or close to water. Also remember the closeness to the equator and height above sea level as the sun’s effects are stronger there.

Frequently reapplying your SPF gives better protection than buying a product with a higher SPF number. SPF protection does not rise proportionately with an SPF number. In the lab, it has been shown SPF 2 can absorb 50% of UVB rays, SPF 15 absorbs 93%, and SPF 30 and above has 97% absorption rate.

Remember some sun rays will still reach your skin, even after using lotion with a high SPF number. To protect against them, use other types of sun protection: clothes, hats, umbrellas, and shades. Many surfaces like snow, sand, water, concrete reflect sun rays, so you can be tanned or burnt even if you are under a shade but close to these surfaces.

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