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When examining the workplace for hazards, the most basic risks are often overlooked. From construction to landscaping, fall prevention, tool guarding, and personal protective equipment are usually at the forefront of injury prevention, while one chronic exposure is frequently overlooked—the sun.
There is no such thing as “a healthy tan.” A tan is basically the skin’s response to injury from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet rays have two classifications, UVA and UVB, based upon their wavelength. UVB rays have been well established as a major cause of melanoma and other skin cancers. UVB rays can be blocked by window glass and are the main target of sunscreens. UVA rays penetrate window glass and deeper into the skin, but are thought to be a less significant contributor to the development of skin cancers.
Current sunscreens are tested and rated for their ability to only screen out UVB rays. The sunscreen’s screening ability is displayed on the bottle as its Sun Protection Factor (SPF). As a rule of thumb, the SPF number is a multiplier of how long one can be exposed to sunlight before developing redness. For example, if it normally takes five minutes of direct exposure for a person to develop visible sunburn, wearing SPF 15 sunscreen should delay visible development of sunburn for about 75 minutes of exposure. Visible sunburn is not the best way to assess damage caused by exposure, as the cells beneath the skin are already being damaged.
Different SPF ratings correspond to levels of UVB absorption—SPF 2 indicates 50% absorption of UVB rays; SPF 15 indicates 95% absorption; and, SPF 30 indicates 97% absorption. While the main focus of sunscreen is to prevent UVB exposure, it is recommended that broad-spectrum protection be used to screen out UVA rays as well. This requires a little label reading to find one of the following ingredients: Benzophenone, Oxybenzone, Sulisobenzone, Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, or Avobenzone.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new sunscreen product in July 2006, containing a new ingredient that is better at blocking UVA rays. One of the active ingredients, ecamsule, had not previously been marketed in the United States, but had been on the market in Europe and Canada (as Mexoryl SX) since 1993. The first sunscreen with this ingredient approved by the FDA for sale in the United States is Anthelios SX.
A pharmacist should also be able to help identify which sunscreens have these ingredients. Sunscreens are required to have a stable shelf-life of three years, so you can use that bottle you bought last year, but if you’re applying one ounce each time you use it as recommended, you shouldn’t have too many old bottles lying around.
Here’s a short list of the things you should remember about sunscreen.
Revised: 04/2017
