What To Look Out For When Choosing Sunscreens
    A sunscreen’s SPF, or sun protection factor, represents a multiple of how long you can stay in the
    sun without burning.  If you burn within 15 minutes of being exposed to the sun with no protection,
    for example, wearing a sunscreen with SPF 15 would theoretically allow you to stay in the sun for
    225 minutes (¾ hours) before you started to burn.

    But sunscreens don’t make sunning safe, because sunscreen alone won’t keep the sun from
    aging your skin.  You can still get sun damage even if you use a good sunscreen.  Some rays will
    get through.

    The trouble is, the sun penetrates your skin through even the strongest sunscreens.  It’s simply a
    matter of time.  You can spend a week in Miami, use an SPF 15 product and not show much of a
    tan.  But stay there three or four weeks and you’ll tan quite a bit.

    In other words, while sunscreens can help keep you from burning, they only delay tanning – a
    slower form of sun damage.  What’s more, sun damage is cumulative: Lines, rough skin texture
    and blotches won’t show up on your face for years.

    Fortunately, the word is out that tanned skin is sun-damaged skin.  You’ll get fewer wrinkles and
    blotches if you use a sunscreen.  That’s why sun-protection products fly off the shelves,
    moisturizers with added sunscreen sell like hotcakes and women of all ages are sporting pale
    faces in August.

    And don’t fall prey to the fallacy that dark skin is more immune to sun damage, either.  Even
    African Americans, whose skin contains more melanin (the substance that gives skin its pigment
    and also causes it to tan), can get sun damage.  For that matter, so can people of Mediterranean
    ancestry and others with moderate degrees of pigmentation.

    But don’t press your luck.  Many people, especially those of Northern European ancestry, shouldn’
    t depend entirely on sunscreens if they’re working outdoors or otherwise spending a lot of time in
    the sun.

    While no sunscreen can offer you complete protection, there is reason to believe that slathering
    on a strong sunscreen regularly may help prevent skin cancer.  An Australian study by the Anti-
    Cancer Council of Victoria tracked 431 patients with precancerous growths who were assigned,
    at random, to use an SPF 17 sunscreen.  After seven months, patients who’d used the sunscreen
    saw 24 percent of their growths shrink or disappear, while the people who didn’t saw slightly less
    improvement.

    More good news: Using sunscreen doesn’t seem to lead to a deficiency in vitamin D, which your
    body produces when it’s exposed to sunlight.  The same Australian study found that, after seven
    months, people who used sunscreen had as much vitamin D in their blood as those who didn’t.
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