THE 28 SUN FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

November 16, 2007

FOR YOUR EYES : VISION IS A PRECIOUS GIFT

1. Sunglasses must protect against 100% of UVA and UVB rays. No compromise is acceptable.

2. The accepted minimum lens protection is 70% of UVB and 60% of UVA, but this is voluntary, not mandatory

3. UV protection comes from a coating on the lens, not the color/darkness of the lens.

4. Lenses may be polarized to cut glare but this is not related to UV protection. The 2 treatments can be applied to the same lens.

5. Hats are still strongly recommended. And why not, they look cool. Choose large frame glasses that wrap around, and wear them with a wide-brimmed hat.

6. You know the pupil, the round black hole in the middle of the eye that opens and closes with light? Behind it sits a little football, hanging there by fibers, like a gong. That’s your lens. You use it to focus your vision. When the lens becomes cloudy, you have a cataract. The lens deteriorates from UV exposure, mostly sensitive to UVB rays.

7. At the back of the eye ball, stuck against the back wall like a piece of wet toilet paper is your retina. This is the nervous tissue of the eye; it send visual information to the brain. The sun damages the part of the retina responsible for the best of your visual acuity. This is called age-related macular degeneration . Who says we need reading glasses when we’re 40? Couldn’t it be 60 instead?

8. Buy your kids glasses! Children have less ability to protect from UV rays than adults.

9. What the glasses cost has nothing to do with their degree of protection.

10. A label saying “ UV protection up to 400nm” is the same as 100% UV absorption.

11. A label saying “special purpose” or “Meets ANSI UV Requirements” means a 99% blockade of UV rays.

12. Sunglasses labeled “cosmetic” block 70% of UV rays.

FOR YOUR SKIN : UNDERSTAND SPF

1. SPF is the number you multiply by 10 to tell you how long you can be in the sun before you burn – assuming you used enough product and you’re not swimming or sweating.

2. More sunscreen is used in the lab to rate the SPF than people really apply. Or reapply. Your real SPF value is less than the number on the bottle.

3. SPF only tells you only about the UVB rays. These rays only reach the surface of the skin. These are the sunburn rays. These are also the skin cancer rays.

4. SPF tells you nothing about the UVA rays that penetrate skin more deeply and trigger melanin production, so you look tanned. These rays also break down the deeper support structure of the skin and cause wrinkles and other forms of aging. UVA rays go through windows.

5. There is no agreed upon way to rate UVA protection.

6. SPF is a subjective number that depends on many things – skin pigmentation, strength of the sun, and type of product used- so your SPF and mine are not the same.

7. Tinted car windows keep out almost 4 times the number of UVA rays.

8. Higher SPF does not mean stronger. It means longer. 92% of UVB rays are blocked with an SPF 15 product. 97% of UVB rays are blocked by SPF 40.

9. Tanning booths use much higher levels of UVA radiation to encourage tanning without burning. In some cases, the UV radiation is 95% UVA.

10. A base tan, that little starter tan you get at the tanning salon before you go on your Carribean holiday in February, thinking you’re somehow protecting your skin, is useless; if anything, a base tan acts as a radiation multiplier.

11. Vitamin D production comes from UVB rays. On days with a UV index over 3, with exposure of face, arms, hands, or back, you can produce enough Vitamin D in 15 minutes of exposure twice a week.

12. The sun ages your skin. Cumulative exposure to sunlight is what causes skin to look old, NOT TIME.

WHAT REALLY BUGS ME

Truth in advertising is one of my personal crusades, particularly as it applies to skin care and cosmetic products. It is even more disturbing when misleading marketing, or outright lying, affects our children. There is only ONE way to force manufacturers to produce reliable skin care products : educating ourselves. Learn to tell what is safe and effective.

1. Many products with an SPF rating have no UVA protection. You can’t easily tell this from the bottle. Learn which products you should not be buying from Paula’s indispensable book.

2. Look for these UVA- protecting ingredients (from Paula’s Choice/Learn/Sun Essentials) on the label : Parsol (avobenzone), zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, Mexoryl, and Tinosorb (Bemotrizinol). It’s good to learn to recognize the words on packaging.

3. Paba and oxybenzone are used less now. They can be irritating. Oxybenzone is a UVB protector; it is not AVObenzone which is UVA. (Remember a for avo, a for UVA).

4. There has been some question as to the stability of Parsol (avobenzone) and whether it starts to break down once it is applied. This claim has been refuted entirely.

Posted by Christine Scaman | Filed Under Paula's Choice, Skin Care 

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