Your Skin and the Sun

Your skin is the largest organ of the human body, and is a protective covering for all of the other vital organs. It weighs approximately six pounds, and covers an average of twenty square feet. The skin protects us from microbes and the elements, helps regulate body temperature, and permits sensations of touch, heat and cold. We tend to take our skin for granted, and while it protects our vital organs from the elements, our skin is exposed to all of the elements, including a very active and powerful star we know as the sun. So let’s learn a little about the sun, so that we can learn to protect our skin.

UV Rays
The sun produces rays of light, usually we see them as refracted light like the colors in a rainbow, or light rays reflected off of cut crystal. While these are the rays that we can see, there are other rays which are invisible to us. We know them as ultraviolet (UV) rays.

UV Radiation
UV radiation is part of the electromagnetic (or light) spectrum that reaches the earth from the sun.

Ultraviolet A (long-wave) or UVA, and Ultraviolet B (shortwave) or UVB, penetrate the atmosphere and make contact with our skin, and play an important role in skin conditions such as premature aging, eye damage (including cataracts), and skin cancer. They also suppress the immune system, reducing your ability to fight off these and other illness.

UV Radiation and Skin Cancer
UV radiation damages the skin’s cellular DNA, and too much UV radiation produces genetic mutations that can lead to skin cancer. UV is a proven human carcinogen. UV radiation is considered the main cause of skin cancers, especially the deadliest form, melanoma, where fair-skinned people are most at risk. Skin cancer strikes more than a million a year, and melanoma kills more than 8,000 Americans each year.

Tanning Booths
A tan results from injury to the skin’s DNA; the skin darkens in an imperfect attempt to prevent further DNA damage. These mutations (the darkening), can lead to skin cancer.

Tanning booths emit UVA. The high-pressure sunlamps used in tanning salons emit doses 12 times that of the sun! People who use the salons to get a tan are 2.5 times more likely to develop cancer. According to recent research, first exposure to tanning beds in youth increases melanoma risk by 75 percent!

UVB
UVB rays are mostly responsible for causing cancers on the outer layer of our skin, the epidermis. (UVA rays go deeper into the subcutaneous layers of the skin). UVB rays cause the reddening of the skin and sunburn we get when we lay out in the sun to get a tan. Because of this, UVB rays contribute to tanning and photo-aging. Its intensity varies by season, location, and time of day. The most significant amount of UVB (epidermis damage) hits the U.S. between 10 AM and 4 PM from April to October. However, you can also get damage from these rays year-round, especially at high altitudes, and on reflective surfaces such as snow or ice, which bounce back up to 80 percent of the rays so that they hit the skin twice. UVB rays do not penetrate glass, UVA rays do.

Protective Measures
Always seek the shade outdoors, especially between 10 AM and 4 PM. Since UVA rays penetrate glass, tint your car windows with UV-protective film. This film blocks up to 99.9 percent of UV radiation and lets in up to 80 percent of visible light.

Clothing
When outdoors, dress to limit your skin to UV exposure. Certain clothing magazines and online stores that offer hard-to-find items now carry sun-protective clothing and hats with UPF (ultraviolet protection factor). The higher the UPF in the clothing, the better protected you are. Bright or dark-colored lustrous type fabric clothing reflects more UV than do pastels and bleached cottons; tightly woven, loose-fitting clothes (linen) provide more of a barrier. Be sure to wear a broad-brimmed hat and UV-blocking sunglasses to help shield the sensitive skin on your head, neck and around the eyes- areas that usually sustain a lot of sun damage.

Sunscreens
Make sure if you use sunscreen, the label says Broad-Spectrum. This means it will protect you from both UVA and UVB rays. Remember, UVA penetrates deeper into the skins layers; just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it is not doing damage. Some people are allergic to the chemicals in sunscreens. Be sure to do a patch test, before applying to sensitive areas.


The Skin Cancer Foundation says you must have at least 15 SPF for skin protection.

Chemical absorbers that work on both UVA and UVB are: Dioxybenzone, Oxybenzone, Sulisobenzone
Physical Filters (film the skin) are: Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide