Sunblock or not?

Reader request: The harms of sunblock

2010 Eastern Wisconsin

My first thought was as with most issues, to weigh the facts and take the lesser of two evils. It's common knowledge the negative effects of sun exposure can cause painful burns, premature aging and even worse, cancer. It's hard to measure at what level is safe exposure. Some people can overdo it and never have a negative effect, while others can spend fifteen minutes outside and be sent running for some aloe relief or to the doctor getting a strange spot removed and biopsied. We know we do need some sun exposure to soak up that wonderful vitamin D, that helps with essential body functions, regulate our mood, and so on, and that only supplementing isn't always as effective at it. However it is believed you can still get your vitamin D with sunblock on. Unless you can avoid ever leaving the house during daylight hours, avoiding sun exposure completely is impossible, and why would you want to either.

During my research I found that of course there are drastic opinions on either side of the fence. I really have a hard time going either way, especially since research can change so quickly. There are a lot of different varieties of types also. There are both chemical and physical types of sunblock. Most people prefer chemical since it is absorbed into the skin and mostly invisible while the physical types stay on top the skin often leaving a white residue. There are also some ingredients that can be harmful from causing rashes, messing with your normal hormones, absorbing into and changing your DNA, to actually increasing your chances of cancer rather than decreasing them. So with that being said, it isn't the question of whether you should use it or not, it's more of doing a little of your own research and learning to read the ingredients before choosing one. With all the available choices it can be sometimes overwhelming sending you to just randomly grab one off the shelf. If all that confuses you I found this website http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/, that both has ratings on many sunscreens, and lists of the best ones. From what I understand the ratings are based on both the availability of a complete list of ingredients and the availability of the data on them. 

2010 Central Minnesota

Some people may be surprised to find out that some are actually worse than wearing nothing and some still yet that are intended for babies aren't always the safest and can sometimes have those should probably avoid ingredients in them. I even found a brand in the store where there was both a normal and one marked for kids, that contained the exact same ingredient list. I have found out some reactions from first hand experience. I have sensitive skin, but also have very fair skin so I always try to apply the sunblock when I know I'm going to be spending some time out in the sun. One time I forgot my sunblock and just used my friends. She used it on her kids all the time so I figured it must be ok, and would be better than nothing. I was horribly wrong. That day I got the worst sunburn of my life, it was worse than our other friend that used nothing. For the next week I had to wash my swimsuit everyday and wear it again because anything else would touch my burn and send me into face scrunching, screaming pain. Then another time when buying new sunblock, I couldn't find the brand I had been buying in the past that I knew both kept me from burning and didn't give me a rash, so I figured I would just grab one that was meant for babies thinking I wouldn't have a reaction. Surprise, by the next day I was covered in a mild rash everywhere I had applied it. Since then I have been more aware of comparing ingredients and avoiding the ones I know I will have a reaction to. 


So next time you go out to buy something your putting on your skin, make sure you know what you are really doing to your body, you never know what is happening with those ingredients that are being absorbed. The more informed us as consumers are, the more this stuff will be regulated and removed from our options.