The ABC's of Sun Rays

The sun provides warmth, light and life.  We feel happier being in the sun because it the sun’s rays releases the feel good hormones in our body called endorphins.  At the same time, the sun showers literally tons of damaging photons onto your naked flesh and can deliver blistering sunburns, premature aging and skin cancer.

There is a paradox of sunscreen. In spite of the widespread use of sunscreen over the past thirty years, visible skin aging changes and skin cancer rates have continued to rise.  If sunscreen were effectively protecting us, this would not be the case.  The reason this paradox exists is the false sense of security people get from using sunscreen because it does not fully protect against all UV rays.

You have only one skin for a lifetime so treat it well.   Here are the ABC’s of UV radiation so you can make the smartest choices for you and your family.

The Sun and its Waves

The sun emits 3 kinds of UV light: Long wave-length (UVA), medium wave-length (UVB) and short wave-length (UVC).  The shorter the wavelength, the stronger the light.  Fortunately, UVC radiation (powerful to kill humans instantly) is absorbed by our atmosphere and never reaches earth. Phew! However, as the ozone layer which protects the earth gets thinner from environmental pollution, there are increasing penetration of UVA and UVB that is resulting in earlier and more aggressive skin damage.  Here is what each one does.

UVA- A for Aging

UVA rays are commonly referred to as the “aging” rays.  They are the long rays that penetrate deep into the dermis, cause tremendous damage over time.  They have the ability to destroy our collagen and elastin, causing wrinkles and sagging.  UVA rays also stimulate pigment producing melanocytes to release brown melanin, resulting in “liver spots” on the face, hands, and chest- a true hallmark of aged skin.   Persistent sun damage may eventually cause some of pigment-producing cells to die, leaving white confetti-like spots on the skin.  UVA rays further damage your RNA (ribonucleic acid), which is located in the cytoplasm of cells and contain the instructions for all the chemical reactions within the cell.  This damage compromises your body’s ability to repair itself. And most problematically, UVA rays can mutate your DNA, eventually leading to skin cancer.

Often, the first sign of UVA damage appears in children.  Those adorable freckles aren’t quite so cute when we understand it is a sign of skin injury, in much the same way that an age spot is result of sun damage as an adult.  People may claim they have always had freckles but this is not true- no one is born with freckles.  They are the body’s response to sun damage, an indicator that you need to slather on extra broad-spectrum sunscreen or risk bigger sun damage later in life.

UVA radiation is omnipresent.  It strikes the earth and your skin from sunup to sundown, rain or shine, January through December.  The rays are equally as strong at 7am as they are 5pm.  They are so powerful that they can penetrate glass, some plastics and change color on clothing and furniture.

UVB- B for Burning

UVB rays are the ones your mother always warned you about- the ones that  lead to painful and visible sunburns.  These rays are at its strongest between 10am and 2pm during the summer months, when the sunlight hits the earth more directly.  Along with burning, UVB rays can also cause skin cancer.  The cancers associated with UVB radiation are most commonly the non-melanoma types, basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.  These are the skin cancers that originate in the epidermis, the top layer of your skin, where the short UVB rays strike and cause damage.

SPF- Sun Protection Factor

SPF is a personal thing: it’s a rough estimate of the time you can spend in the sun before burning and each skin time is different.  Obviously the higher the SPF, the longer you are protected from sunburn.  But that doesn’t mean you can bask in the sun all day.  Since SPF is only a measure of protection against UVB radiation, it has no bearing on the more dangerous and aging UVA rays.

A high-SPF sunscreen will prevent you from a UVB induced sunburn but a sunburn is nature’s way of letting you know that you have had too much sun for your skin type and a signal that its time to seek the shade.  So, thanks to your SPF 30, you may be spending three to four times longer in the sun, believing that you are protected.  Since your sunscreen blocks mainly UVB light and to a much lesser extent UVA, you have just gotten three to four times more UVA light.  Since UVA light is present in one hundred fold greater amounts in the environment than UVB light, the profound damage that is associated with UVA (aging and melanoma) is on the rise.

Since 2010, a four-star rating system is being adopted by U.S. sunscreen manufacturers to guide consumers about the strength of their UVA protection. However, this process has been slow.  To be  smart in the sun, I first recommend that you only use SPF indicating “broad-spectrum UVA/UVB sunscreen”.  The most effective ingredients against UVA light are zinc-oxide, avobenzone, and Mexoryl so make sure these are in your sunscreen. Second, I recommend using broad-spectrum protection in SPF 15 or  SPF 30 everyday and increase to an SPF 40 or 50 when staying out in the direct sun for longer periods.  When sunscreen is applied correctly (full coverage, not thin layer), SPF 15 blocks 93% of UVB rays; SPF 30 blocks 97% of UVB says; SPF blacks 99% of UVB rays.

Dr. Katie Rodan writes in her book, Write Your Skin a Prescription For Change, “Every day is sun-day according to your skin.  Just twenty minutes of sun exposure a day adds up.  Do the math and you’ll see that this is equivalent to two straight weeks of exposure over the course of a year.  You wouldn’t spend two weeks baking in the sun without sunscreen, would you?  This proves how important daily sun protection really is”- Dr. Katie Rodan

Recent medical studies have shown that 20% of lifetime sun damage by age twenty-three, with 10% accumulation per decade thereafter, so even if you neglectful of sun protection as a child, you can make a huge difference in how you age going forward.  It’s never too late to start protecting yourself from the sun’s rays.  I hope you take one small step towards beautiful and healthy skin today!