Sun damage to the skin is an epidemic. Skin cancer will strike one in five Americans over the course of their lives, and the rates of all types of skin cancer—including melanoma and keratinocyte cancers (basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma)—are increasing. Melanomas are often deadly. Approximately 160,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with them annually, and one American dies every hour of every day—amounting to about 10,000 per year. About 65 percent of melanomas and 90 percent of keratinocyte cancers worldwide are attributable to sun exposure.
Since the 1990s, advanced new sunscreens have been widely sold in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. But Americans have access only to older generations of sunscreen that prevent sunburn—but not the deeper damage that can cause skin cancer.
There are two major wavelengths of ultraviolet light beaming down on us from the sun that are believed to damage the skin and lead to skin cancer as well as premature skin aging—types A and B, commonly referred to as UVA and UVB.
Most U.S. sunscreens are fairly effective against UVB light, which is what causes immediate sunburn. And a sunburn, of course, is noticeable after a short period of time. It's a signal your body gives you to get out of the sun before your burn worsens. UVA light penetrates deeper into the skin and is in many ways more damaging—and this is the light that can cause cancer. And unlike UVB that causes sunburn, the more serious damage that can be caused by UVA is not something we notice. It can take many years—even decades—of exposure to UVA light to cause skin cancer.
Most Americans mistakenly believe that they are getting state-of-the-art skin protection from sunscreen. However, a sunscreen with SPF 50 bought in the United States allows three times as much ultraviolet light to enter the skin as sunscreens with the same SPF available abroad.
Source: Blame The FDA For Your Outmoded Sunscreen
23 Sep 2019, 9:27 am
