Lifestyle Choices

Chemical sunscreens

There are more than 20 different compounds that the American FDA recognizes as safe and effective ingredients of chemical sunscreens. The most common are: 1) para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and PABA derivatives (known as esters, such as padimate-O and padimate-A); 2) cinnamates; 3) salicylates (all three types absorb only UVB); 4) benzophenones (such as oxybenzone which absorbs primarily UVA); and 5) anthranilides, which absorb UVA as well as UVB. (more…)

It should reassure you to know that sunscreens are classified as over-the-counter drugs, not merely cosmetics. That means that all ingredients in each preparation have undergone testing to demonstrate their safety and effectiveness. Each particular sunscreen formulation must also be checked prior to sale to demonstrate its sun protection factor (SPF).

Interestingly, the sunscreen ingredients accepted as effective by regulatory bodies differ a little from country to country. (more…)

These are the basic rules that really do help to protect you:

1 Don’t roast yourself

However tempting it might be, don’t ever lie in the sun. And always stay near trees for shade or an umbrella (preferably dark and tightly woven). Do remember that indoor “palefaces” who quick-roast themselves in the sun on a two-week vacation can measurably increase their risk of skin cancer.. (more…)

The third part of everyday skin care is simple: Your skin needs to be protected from the sun. This does not just mean when you are lying on the beach, either; it means all the time. For ultraviolet light is the worst destroyer and ager of the skin that you are ever likely to encounter.

Long-term exposure to ultraviolet light brings about degenerative changes in the deep layers of the skin that until recently were thought to be an unavoidable part of the aging process: cross-linking and bunching of the collagen fibers and genetic damage to the skin’s cells that cause it to lose tone, to wrinkle, to sag, and to discolor. (more…)