This time of year, many like to enjoy the sunshine. But too much can lead to future problems like skin cancer. Doctors commonly point to wearing sunscreen as protection, but there are new concerns about those products.
Our skin can pay a hefty price for summer fun in the sun. Just one blistering sunburn in your younger years can increase the risk for deadly melanoma skin cancer. Dermatologist Whitney Bowe told CBN News although skin cancer diagnoses are on the rise, it doesn’t have to be that way.
“Ultraviolet exposure from the sun’s rays is really the number one most preventable and avoidable cause of not only skin cancer,” she said, “But also signs of aging, so things like fine lines, wrinkles, brown spots, loss of elasticity.”
Questions Concerning Chemical Sunscreens
Dr. Bowe, author of Dirty Looks: The Secret to Beautiful Skin recommends using sunscreen to protect our skin from the sun’s harmful rays. However, she points out the US Food and Drug Administration is now questioning chemical sunscreen with ingredients like oxybenzone, avobenzone, octocrylene and ecamsule.
“They’re actually calling on sunscreen manufacturers to really take a closer look at the safety of some of those ingredients,” said Dr. Bowe.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed some sunscreen chemicals can be absorbed into the bloodstream. That’s why the FDA states these products “need to undergo further testing to help determine if they increase the risk for cancer, birth defects or other adverse effects.”
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