#Chemical sunscreen skin

While the most effective way to avoid UV radiation is to stay out of the sun completely, that isn’t exactly a good strategy for a fun summer.Įnter sunscreen, which helps to provide protection against both skin cancer and photoaging by shielding your skin from the damaging effects of UV radiation. However, the UVC radiation produced by the sun is absorbed by oxygen molecules in the ozone layer, preventing this type of radiation from causing cancer or skin aging. Exposure to UVB radiation can cause sunburn and significantly increase your risk of developing skin cancer. These rays contain more energy than UVA rays. They can damage your skin and contribute to premature aging, but they appear to play less of a role in skin cancer than other types of UV radiation. These rays have the lowest amount of energy. This damage can build up over time, leaving you with prematurely aged skin that causes you to look older than you really are.Įxperts categorize UV radiation from the sun into three different groups: When you spend time outdoors without protection, UV radiation weakens your skin and speeds up the development of wrinkles, fine lines, age spots, hyperpigmentation (blotchy, dark patches of skin), loose skin and damaged blood vessels called spider veins. Getting sunburned five or more times in your life also doubles your risk of developing melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.īeyond increasing your risk of developing cancer, exposing your skin to bright sunlight without sunscreen can also accelerate the aging process.Īlthough some aspects of aging are unavoidable, most aging-related skin changes are caused by photoaging - a form of damage to the skin that’s caused by long-term exposure to UV rays and sunlight. The UV radiation produced by the sun isn’t powerful enough to penetrate very far into your body, but it can cause serious damage to your skin.Īccording to the Skin Cancer Foundation, around 90 percent of nonmelanoma skin cancers are associated with excessive sun exposure.

Exposing your skin to large amounts of UV radiation can harm its DNA, increasing your risk of developing skin cancer.

UV radiation is a type of ionizing radiation, meaning it can affect the atoms in living tissue by removing electrons. Whenever you spend time outdoors during the day, you expose your skin to UV radiation - a form of electromagnetic radiation that comes from the sun. Why Sunscreen is Essential for Healthy Skinīefore we get into the specifics of chemical and mineral sunscreens, let’s get one thing out of the way: any type of sunscreen is better than no sunscreen at all.