With winter upon us, many people ask if sunscreen
use is necessary in the winter. The
simple answer is yes. Now we will
consider the reason why sun screen should be used. Although the sun may not seem as hot during
the winter months, the sun still is emitting ultraviolet radiation which is a
major cause of skin damage, skin wrinkles, and certain types of skin cancer and
premature aging of the skin. The sun
emits three types of ultraviolet radiation, UVA, UVB and UVC. UVC is blocked by the ozone layer and does
not reach the earth’s surface. UVB has
long been associated with sun damage and is the major cause of sunburns. UVA
has recently been found to cause more damage to the skin than UVB for it
penetrates to a deeper level of the skin and damages that layer. Unlike UVB,
UVA is more consistent, in that there is no daily or seasonal variation in the
amount of UVA that reaches the earth’s surface.
Now that we
understand a little about the sun’s damaging effect, what can we do to prevent
the damage? Sun block, at least SPF
15. SPF stands for sun protection
factor. It is a measurement developed in
the laboratory which measures the amount of light needed to induce redness in sun
block protected skin divided but the amount of light to induce redness in
unprotected skin. A simple way to think
about this is, if your skin gets red after 10 minutes of exposure to the sun,
with SPF 15, it would take 150 minutes to develop the same amount of
redness. It is important to remember
that SPF does not protect against UVA.
So why is it important to use sun block in the
winter? Simply because we should use sun
block every time we are exposing ourselves to the sun. The UV radiation does not stop just because
it is winter. The snow causes the
reflection of UV radiation which can increase our exposure on bright sunny
winter days. Skiers are more susceptible
because the high altitude allows more harmful radiation to hit our skin. Since
we do not feel the typical burn of sunburn like in the summer, we tend to stay
out for longer periods of time increasing our exposure. Although it always
enjoyable to be outdoors on a lovely winter day, as you are dressing to enjoy
the day, remember the sun block, you will thank me later.
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