q&a by dermalogica question time Candice Gardner answers your skin care concerns
Q: I have a client who really suffered fromprickly heat this Summer. Can you explain why it occurs and how I can help her as she prepares to fly off for someWinter sun?
A: July 2013 was the hottest on record for seven years, and some experts say that only one July was better in the last 100 years.
Whilemany basked in the glorious weather some found it difficult to cope with the extreme heat, suffering with heat stroke, dehydration and prickly heat.
Prickly heat is a condition that results in a skin rash with red, raised tiny blisters. It can feel itchy or sting, andmay occur anywhere on the body. Sometimes also called heat rash, themain cause is blocked sweat pores, and is muchmore common in hot, humid climates.
You can also get prickly heat in colder environments if you become hot from wearing toomany clothes, sit too close to a
fire or heater, or get too hot in bed fromusing thick bedding or an electric blanket. If you wear tight clothing that isn’t breathable or have bandages on your skin, youmay also block the sweat glands.
When you get very hot and perspiration is increased, this can cause skin cells and sebum to stick to the skin surface and clog the opening to the sweat
pores.As the sweat gland is unable to release sweat on to the skin surface to cool the body, this can lead to heat exhaustion and in severe cases heat stroke.
The general advice is to get into a cool environment. Stay out of the direct sun and avoid the heat.Wear cool, loose cotton clothing and keep yourself hydrated.Your client’s GPmay recommend antihistamines or calamine lotion to relieve the itch.
Avoid using chemical sunscreens if you are prone to prickly heat; their action causes increased heat in the skin tissues as they convert harmful UV rays into heat energy. This increased skin heating will increase sweating andmay trigger your symptoms. Opt for physical sunscreens that reflect light away fromthe skin, rather than absorbing it. ChooseTitaniumDioxide or Zinc Oxide instead.
Inmost instances the symptoms will settle once you are in a cooler temperature.
Q: Howmuch sun exposure should I recommendmy clients get daily to allow their skin to produce vitamin D?
A:This question comes up often and it is very
valid.Vitamin D is essential for healthy bones, regulating inflammation and promoting wound healing in the body. So, having healthy levels and correcting deficiency is important.
Howmuch vitamin D the skin produces will depend on skin
colour.The lighter the skin
the quicker production will be – so it is not easy to give a specific time allocation as it depends on your ethnicity, along with the time of day, time of year and where in the world you are as UV radiation
varies.That being said, it does not take very long for production to be initiated – certainlyminutes rather than hours.
Of greater importance is whether this exposure should be protected or unprotected. There have been claims that sunscreens inhibit production of vitamin D, and therefore should be
avoided.This has very recently been categorically disproved in a clinical study conducted by Kings College London and part funded by Boots. Reports on the study were published this Summer.
The study was led by Professor of Experimental Photobiology at St John's Institute of Dermatology,AntonyYoung, and conducted somewhere on a sunny beach in
Tenerife.The studymonitored two groups – one which applied sunscreen and one which did
not.They experienced daily exposure for two weeks and had skin samples taken daily tomeasure vitamin D levels.
The results were clear. “Despite the use of sunscreen, participants experienced an average increase to their baseline vitamin D levels of an additional 16 nmol/l, indicating that the use of sunscreen still allows the body to produce significant amounts of vitamin D fromsunlight exposure," explained the study.
This is good news as skin cancer charities do not advocate unprotected
exposure.The increased risk of skin cancermeans we should not change our habits of applying sunscreens to protect the skin, over unnecessary concern of becoming vitamin D deficient.
And if you’re concerned about babies or prefer to avoid direct exposure yourself, don’t forget – vitamin D can be supplemented in the diet, so there is no reason to be deficient either way.
Candice Gardner is Education CurriculumManager UK&Eire for the International Dermal Institute. Formore information telephone 08000 564 544 or visit
www.dermalinstitute.co.uk
118 GUILD NEWS
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