Protection Options Screened

The daunting headlines keep coming: Melanoma, the deadly skin cancer, is now the eighth most common cancer--up from 20th just 10 years ago. Today protection has replaced tanning as the buzzword in sun products.

“Everyone should use a sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 15--that’s just for brief daily exposure, such as walking to work or driving a car,” says Dr. Nicholas Lowe, a clinical professor of dermatology at UCLA. (SPF 15 means you can stay in the sun 15 times longer before burning than you can without sunscreen.)

But Lowe reports that some people’s skin is too sensitive--whether from illness, medication or allergy--to use regular chemical sunscreens. A new option is to use a non-chemical sunscreen made with the mineral titanium dioxide. What was once the opaque white stuff found on lifeguards’ noses has been crushed to a sheer powder and suspended in hypoallergenic creams for transparent protection.

Unlike traditional, chemical sunscreens, the mineral reflects light rather than absorbing it. “Titanium dioxide is better than chemical formulas,” explains Lowe, “because in addition to reflecting damaging ultraviolet light, it blocks infrared light, which is often a problem for people made photosensitive by disease or drugs.”

The new sunscreens do have one drawback: They may still leave a slight white cast on the skin. And in SPF formulations higher than 15, even the sheer titanium dioxide must be mixed with standard chemical sunscreens to avoid the opaque white (lifeguard) look, which brings the sensitive-skinned person back to square one.