WHY WE NEED SUN PROTECTION

THE SUN & ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION

The sun emits various types of radiation rays, the thing that differentiates them is their 'Wavelength'. From the sun, we receive Visible Light that creates the brightness that comes from the sun, and Infrared rays that carry the heat and release it on impact giving us heat from the sun. Therefore the, the sun's infrared rays keep us warm and its visible rays give us the "light" to see by. From the sun we also receive UV rays, they have wavelengths shorter than that of visible light. We cannot see UV rays. The UV rays release more energy than the other rays from the sun. The sun's ultraviolet radiation is also useful but, at the same time, it’s very dangerous to us. Ultraviolet rays are the cause of most skin cancers, many cataracts and 90% of visible aging (the changes we see in our skin as we get older). UV rays are divided into 3 different bands: UVA, UVB & UVC. Virtually all of the UVC is filtered out by our atmosphere, so that none actually reaches the earth's surface. UVB and UVA both reach the earth in significant amounts. UVB is "stronger" than UVA having a greater ability to penetrate the skin & to cause skin damage. There is, however, about 100 times as much as UVA as UVB so that, despite being weaker, UVA is still dangerous.  Some other UVR facts are:  UVR is strongest between 10:00AM and 2:00PM. Clouds filter some but not most of the UVR so it is still possible to get burned on a cloudy day. Some ground surfaces such as sand and snow reflect most of the UVR. For instance snow can reflect as much as 80% on the incident UVR.  Water actually reflects very little UVR.  For every 1000 feet increase in altitude the UVR increases by 4%.

OZONE

The ozone layer is located about 30 to 100 Km above the earth. The ozone layer filters out much of the UVB but has relatively little affect on UVA. It is UVB therefore that will be most affected by any change in atmospheric ozone. This is the UV ray that is most damaging to the skin so any depletion in ozone will allow the more harmful UVB through and more skin disorders will be seen.  CFCs released now take about 7 years to get to the ozone layer and do their damage. The average CFC "life span" is about 100 years, which means that even after we stop using them, they will be damaging the ozone layer for a long time to come. CFC emissions have decreased drastically over the past few years.

THE SKIN & MELANIN

The skin is the body’s largest organ. The skin can be divided into 3 layers. The Epidermis is the outermost layer, after which comes the Dermis (the middle layer) and then, the Dermis (the innermost layer).  The Epidermis, which is divided into several layers, has a lot of Keratin forming cells. Keratin is what makes the skin tough. Keratin containing cells make their way to the surface. The epidermis also has a couple of other cell types that don't migrate to the top but instead, sort of float within the epidermis. The best known of these cells, are the Melanocytes, which produce Melanin. Melanin is a brown coloured protein that helps determine the colour of our skin. The difference between the fairest skinned and the darkest people is the amount of Melanin producing cells that they have. The Melanin that the Melanocytes make finds its way into the cells containing the keratin, as they make their way up to the surface.

SKINS DEFENCE MECHANISM AGAINST UV RAYS

The body's first line of defence is the skin. It has in-built functions to counter all sorts of attacks. As we have said, it is UVB that is the more potent. Therefore as the UVB hits and penetrates the outer layer, the body registers this & this brings into action its own defence mechanism to this perceived 'attack'. A "good tan" has an SPF of only about 4. A smart way to look at a tan is that the Melanin is the debris left over after the war between your skin and the sun. In other words - there is no such thing as a "healthy Tan" because to get that tan you needed to expose yourself to dangerous amounts of radiation. Tanning should not be looked upon as a healthy thing but rather a defensive reaction.  Also the skins outer layer will thicken, therefore making it much harder for the UV rays to penetrate the skin.

DAMAGE

UV rays when they penetrate can cause damage to the skin cells damaging their DNA. This can lead to cell death or mutant cells that can become cancerous. They will damage the skin structure and the cells and potentially cause cancerous cells. UV rays danger is not be taken lightly especially for children.  Also living in the epidermis are cells that are part of our immune system: Langerhans cells. Langerhans cells are there to help ward off invaders such as bacteria. Damaged cells caused by UV rays from the sun do what they can to mend themselves as they all have self repair capabilities. But if too many cells are damaged due to over exposure to sunlight and so UV rays, then the repair mechanism is overwhelmed. When that happens not every cell is repaired. Some will die off & others survive in an altered state. When the skin's immune system detects these abnormal cells. It will spring into action. Langerhans cells are the backbone of the skin's immune system. They will seek out & destroy surviving mutant cells, so that they cannot multiply and one-day cause skin cancer. However in doing this Langerhans cells are themselves exposed to UV rays and unfortunately, they are extremely sun-sensitive. UV radiation reduces the number of these essential cells and weakens the ones that remain. A few minutes of unprotected UVR exposure will damage the Langerhans cells in ways that will last for weeks. In this way the sun delivers a double hit: first it causes damage that can lead to skin cancer, then it cripples one of our body's normal cancer defence systems. Children whose defence mechanism is not yet mature will need more and special protection. In the dermis the collagen is formed into a bundle. In the skin, the collagen provides strength and texture. It looks like a rope, made up of many twined strands. In the young, non sun-damaged skin, the individual strands of the "rope" are separate from each other. As one accumulates more and more sun damage the strands lose their orderly arrangement and, like an old rope, become frayed and tangled. Collagen damaged in this way is no longer strong and supple and this results in the sagging limp skin that we associate with aging. 90% of the changes in our skin that we commonly associate with aging are actually due to sun exposure and could be avoided with proper attention.

SUNBURN

Sunburn is caused by overexposure to UVR, mostly UVB. In fact, sunburn is almost exclusively a UVB phenomenon. This is important because it means that the SPF system measures UVB protection and not UVA. During a sunburn, the skin turns red, swells and, in severe cases, blisters. On a cellular level there is an increase in inflammatory cells as well as many chemicals associated with inflammation. Sunburn continues to develop for 12 to 24 hours after the exposure. One blistering sunburn will double a person's chance of developing skin cancer. Remember however, that avoiding sunburn is not the same as avoiding sun damage. Sunburn is just the immediate sign of UVR overexposure. People who have never been sunburned can still develop the delayed problems such as skin cancer and the sun related skin changes such as deep lines, sagging skin.

SKIN TYPES

The Skin Type system is a method commonly used to assess one's sunburn risk. There are 6 (1 - 6) skin types (see below). The lower numbers represent those people more likely to burn and the higher numbers are reserved for those people with a greater degree of natural protection. As we all know, fair skinned, light-eyed people with freckles are the most sun sensitive while dark skinned dark eyed are the least sun sensitive. Therefore the light skinned people will need more protection than darker skinned people. Type 1- Always burns, never tans Type 2- Usually burns, tans with difficulty Type 3- Sometimes burns, sometimes tans Type 4- Burn minimally, always tans Type 5- Rarely burns, tans profusely Type 6- Never burns, deeply tans People with a lower skin type will need more protection i.e. a sunscreen with a higher factor.

SPF

SPF stands for Sunscreen Protection Factor. It is measured by determining how long a given person takes to "burn" with and without the sunscreen product on. If it takes 10 times longer with the sunscreen product then that product has an SPF of 10. If it only takes twice as long then that product has a SPF of 2. In reality, the testing labs don't really burn the test subjects they give them just enough UVR to cause the skin to turn barely red. In order to find out which SPF is for you use our SPF 'Adviser'. It is very important to get the right one to give adequate protection. In broad terms, you can say that an SPF of 10 or under is Low, between 10 and 20 is Medium, between 20 and 40 is High & over 40 is Very High.

SUNSCREENS

Our skin cannot cope with all the effects that the sun has on the skin. Therefore we need help; this comes in the form of sunscreens that will help filter out the UV rays. You need one that will filter out UV A & B rays. One that is stable in strong light 'photo stable' so will not degrade or breakdown so will not lose its effectiveness in strong sun light. It should also be water resistant, as most holidays will involve coming into prolonged contact with water. It is advised to apply sunscreen every two hours or as directed by the manufactures instructions on the bottle. You should apply the sunscreen about 20 minutes before going out.

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