Health Sun protection
summer skincare
All about
Summer may be many people’s favourite season, but the hot weather can be harsh on our skin. Here are some of the ways to keep summer skin glowing
Most of us look forward to it for months on end, and when the summer sun finally makes an appearance it’s important to take particular care of our skin. Too much sun and not enough
protection from its ultraviolet (UV) rays can make your skin burn, leaving your skin red and flaky as well as feeling sore. But while sunburn usually gets better
within a few days, experiencing severe sunburn – particularly during childhood – can increase your risk of developing skin cancer in later life, says the British Skin Foundation. According to Cancer Research UK,
skin damage caused by the sun doesn’t just happen on holiday or in hot, sunny places either. In fact the sun is often strong enough to damage your skin in the UK, even when it’s cloudy (the charity’s experts also advise that you can’t feel UV rays, which is why you can still burn on cool days).
Sun safety There are lots of ways to protect your skin during the summer months.
According to the NHS, you should:
• Spend time in the shade when the sun is strongest (between 11am and 3pm from March to October in the UK).
• Cover up with suitable clothing and by wearing sunglasses (choose loose trousers or skirts in close-weave fabrics that don’t allow sunlight through).
It’s important to make sure you don’t burn, so apply a sun cream to any exposed parts of your skin. Choose a sun cream that’s suitable for your skin type – the NHS recommends using a sun cream with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15, though if you burn easily you may need a higher SPF level (the fairer your skin, the higher the level of protection you’ll need. SPF is a measure of the amount of
protection a sun cream has against the sun’s UV-B rays, which are the main UV rays responsible for sunburn. The NHS also recommends buying a sun cream with at least four-star
UV-A protection in addition to SPF protection (products that protect against both UV-A and UV-B radiation are often called broad- spectrum sun creams). UV-A rays penetrate the skin deeply
and are associated with skin ageing. To find a sun cream that offers UV-A protection, look for a symbol on the packaging that includes the letters ‘UVA’ in a circle. The circle should also include a number of stars (up to five), with five stars indicating the highest level of UV-A protection. Some sun creams also protect
against infrared-A (IR-A) rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin and may cause both long-term and short-term damage to skin cells and to the collagen in the skin. These include the Solero Triple Defence range of sun creams, which are available at selected Careway pharmacies. Not sure which sun cream would be
best for you? Ask your pharmacist to recommend a suitable product that offers the optimum protection for your skin type.
> All About health 13
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