Sun Protection - How does Sunscreen Work

Overexposure to sunlight can result in painful, red, sunburned skin. A bad burn can also cause serious consequences like skin cancer later in life.

Long-term overexposure can cause wrinkles, freckles, age spots, dilated blood vessels; changes in the texture of the skin that make skin look older, and skin cancers. Sun protection is important because it helps to reduce these effects.

The amount of melanin in your skin needs to be taken into account. For example, I have darker skin than my British husband. While I seldom burn... and yes I do use sunscreen on a daily basis, he burns very easily. He needs to top up his application on a regular basis, just to prevent burning, while I top up just as often, to prevent my skin from aging any more than is necessary.

The amount of melanin in your skin needs to be taken into account. For example, I have darker skin than my British husband. While I seldom burn... and yes I do use sunscreen on a daily basis, he burns very easily. He needs to top up his application on a regular basis, just to prevent burning, while I top up just as often, to prevent my skin from aging any more than is necessary.

Sunscreens work by absorbing, reflecting, or scattering the sun's rays on the skin. They are available in many forms, including ointments, creams, gels, lotions, sprays, and wax sticks. All are labeled with SPF numbers. The higher the SPF, the greater the protection from sunburn. Some sunscreens, called "broad-spectrum," reflect both UVA and UVB rays. They do a better a job of protecting skin from other effects of the sun including photo damage, photo dermatitis, and sun rashes

UV-A penetrates deeply into the skin and can lead to cancer and premature skin aging. UV-B is involved in tanning and burning of your skin. UV-C is completely absorbed by the earth's atmosphere. The organic molecules in sunscreen absorb the ultraviolet radiation and release it as heat.

By chemically absorbing UV radiation and therefore preventing it from reaching your skin. By physically blocking or reflecting UV radiation - these sunscreens contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, which scatter the UV radiation away from your skin. Chemical absorber sunscreens are the most common. These are usually non-greasy and easy to apply. Broad-spectrum sunscreens contain several chemicals that absorb UVR over the UV spectrum.

Sun blocks (i.e., physical sunscreens containing zinc oxide or titanium oxide) reflect, scatter rays and act as a barrier to UVR.Sunscreens are labeled with a sun protection factor (SPF). For example, with an SPF 15 it takes 15 times as much sun exposure to get sunburn as compared to no sunscreen at all.

Sunscreens work by either absorbing or blocking Ultraviolet light. Examples of absorbers are PARA, benzophenones and cinnamates. Examples of sun blockers are zinc oxide, titanium dioxide and ichthammol. Most sunscreens have 2 or 3 absorbers to block a higher percentage and broader range of wavelengths.

The chemicals in sunscreen products work by absorbing the ultra violet rays and then scattering them, the most common of these is para-aminobenzoic acid or PABA. Mexoryl SX is said to be the most effective of these chemicals but has only so far been approved in the USA, this was in July 2006.