July is UV Safety Month, and it’s the most important month of the year to protect skin from sun exposure. While almost everyone enjoys spending time outdoors, many people believe that sunscreen is optional. As dermatologists, we know sunscreen should always be worn outdoors. Still, it is important to understand the full reasons for, and all the benefits of, wearing sunscreen to inform your patients’ practices for summer.
Why Should I Wear Sunscreen?
Light comes in a wide spectrum of wavelengths, and shorter wavelength light has higher energy. Light emitted from the sun doesn’t just contain visible light; rather, it contains ultraviolet (UV) light as well, which has more energy. UV light can be broken into subcategories: UVA (long-wavelength), UVB (medium-wavelength), and UVC (short-wavelength).
All three types of UV light have dangerously high amounts of energy, and when skin is exposed to these wavelengths, it causes sunburn and irritation. Even when skin doesn’t burn, long-term exposure to high-energy light in both the UV and visible regions of the spectrum causes skin to show more signs of aging such as hyperpigmentation, lines and wrinkles, and it can also significantly increase the risk of skin cancer.
Fortunately, sunscreen can prevent, and in some cases reverse, these negative effects of sun exposure. Sunscreens contain ingredients designed to repel light in different regions of the spectrum, whether it’s UV or visible. This protects against damage and preserves long-term skin health.
What Makes A Good Sunscreen?
We could have a lengthy discussion on the benefits of certain ingredients and the hazards of others, but these are not, ultimately, what makes the best sunscreen. Instead, we believe that the best sunscreen is the one that someone actually takes out of the bottle and wears.
People avoid wearing sunscreen for a number of reasons. Some people don’t like the smell, and others are rightly worried about the safety of certain ingredients. But whatever the reasons, wearing sunscreen is imperative for skin health. Even “dangerous” additives in sunscreens are typically not as dangerous as not wearing sunscreen.
Essentially, it doesn’t really matter which sunscreen a person wears, so long as they wear one.
How Do We Get More People To Wear Sunscreen?
Since wearing sunscreen is so important, it helps to make quality sunscreen products that people enjoy. If they want to wear it, they’re much more likely to.
At CosMedical Technologies, we’ve carefully formulated, researched and developed two high-quality sunscreen products. Both of our sunscreens offer protection from UVA and UVB, and both are tinted, lightweight formulas that apply smoothly and evenly to the skin. Read more about our different sunscreens and what makes our clients love them.
Make sure your patients take sunscreen home with them this summer, and remind them that ideally, they should reapply sunscreen every two hours when outdoors.
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