Is a face lotion with a low amount of SPF Sunscreen in it good to use on a daily basis? Last summer I used one that did, but I've heard that the stuff isn't good to use.

If I was lying out on a beach or fishing in a boat for hours, I would use a regular high SPF cream, but is it safe or necessary to use everyday? I'm thinking about avoiding sun damage related wrinkles, or not making the ones I already have any worse.

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

My dermatologist argues that anything below spf30 is as good as nothing as even on a snowy day you are getting a good deal of harmful rays are coming through -

After having a basal cell sliced out my cheek I'm wearing a moisturiser with spf30 everyday, rain or shine... and if I have to be in the sun, 50 or zinc - sad, as I love the sun, but no more for me

If I had a doctor tell me that the sun causes skin cancer I would find a new doctor. But that's just me.

Why is that Thee Phenom? Does it not?

Thanks Marilyn27 for your reply. I use to lay out and bake in the sun as a kid, teen and younger adult, but with time I grew wiser and watch my sun exposure.

I think a limited amount per day is acceptable, but too much is never a good thing. I've been lucky never to have skin cancer issues, I had a couple of moles tested years back, but everything was ok.

Skin Cancer/Sunscreen - the Dilemma

This video explains in detail how sunscreens may be the cause of skin cancer by accentuating the vitamin D degrading UVA spectrum and depleting the UVB input.

Most melanomas (the deadly form of skin cancer) occur in places the sun never shines and further lowering your 25(OH)D vitamin d status removes the protection vitamin D offers.
Where the sun does not shine: Is sunshine protective against melanoma of the vulva?

Sure one should NEVER EVER allow your skin or anyone else's to burn. If you see someone more than just a little pink you must tell them as soon as possible if you think they aren't aware. Just a quarter of the time it takes to go a bit pink is sufficient to make vitamin D, once you get to the point of burning Vitamin D is degraded and your worse off then before going out.
I think wearing a sun hat or other protective clothes is the best alternative.
It's not so much a problem for me as I live in the UK and our sun is not so intense.

Do be aware that Vitamin D is itself photoprotective so raising your 25(OH)D quickly now before the summer comes will speed up the ability of your skin to tan and enable it to better regulate further vitamin D production. Biotech 50,000iu ONE EVERY 5TH DAY provides 10,000iu daily and 8 weeks at that rate should get someone who hasn't been taking an effective amount of D3 up to 60ng/ml then reduce to One X 50,000iu every week. Get 25(OH)D checked at 3 months to make sure you've hit target.

Omega 3 is another excellent photo protection. It is Arguable that the real danger is omega 6 industrial oil, corn, soy, sunflower, safflower and their use in commercial foods and livestock feeds that is driving cancer/heart disease incidence anyway most people have TOO much omega 6 and TOO LITTLE omega 3 and when they supplement to improve O3 they generally don't take the 2g of EPA+DHA that is required to seriously alter the ratio.

I've listed here some other NATURAL SUNSCREEN PROTECTION IDEAS
You should consider them all as additional or complementary as each will improve sun protection in it's own way.
Getting 25(OH)D level up to 60ng/ml does NOT MEAN you can ignore the amount of Omega 6 you are using or the need to increase your omega 3 intake.
Similarly drinking green tea will help but it shouldn't be regarded as a stand alone stragegy.The antioxidants work on way, the omega 3 another the Vitamin D is a different approach as well. The aim is to try to recreate the natural sunscreen potential that enabled our earliest ancestors to live near naked outdoor lives in sunny environments. We have become maladjusted to our natural environment and the inability of most people to spend more than a few minutes out in the sun is an indication of that.

I do practice what I preach.
We are just starting to get sufficient sun here in the UK to do any good and I assure you I'll be out at midday soaking up as much as possible, But I also take sufficient d3 to meet my daily needs and allow my skin to adjust the amount of additional D3 it makes from the sun.
I never forget my liquid concentrated fish oil.
I only drink green tea.
I use a form of alpha-lipoic acid to reduce or delay skin aging.

Needless to say I never use sunscreen nor do I avoid sunshine but bear in mind I'm at latitude 52 and the sun is a treat it's so rare to be warm enough to enjoy it. I might have to work harder if I lived at latitude 42 and take extra protection at latitude 32. Similarly people living in the Southern Hemisphere have to be a lot more cautious. The sun shines brighter there (less atmospheric pollution and the earth tilts closer to the sun when it's summer in Aus.

Near the Equator in the NORTH of Australia they can get sunburnt even in the shade but white Caucasian skin did not evolve to thrive at that latitude, it was to take best advantage of the sun's power to make Vitamin D in northerly latitudes.

Ted�s post pretty much says it all.
Skin cancer is not caused by too much sun, actually it turns out that there is more skin cancer reported in northern latitudes where there is less sun. But the chemicals used in the sun screens can cause problems.
To maintain good health your body needs direct sun light. Obviously going out and becoming charbroiled is taking it to the other extreme. If you have to be outside for an extended period of time the best sunscreen is to wear light colored clothing.

Thanks Mad Scientest! Where I use to work I spoke to many over-the-road semi-truck drivers. There were a couple of cases where their left arm or left ear had some skin cancer. Since they drive for so many hours every day of the year, some wear long-sleeved shirts even in summer, and wide-brimmed hats to protect their ears and the left side of their face.

Oral nicotinamide protects against ultraviolet radiation-induced immunosuppression in humans
Nicotinamide at 500 mg daily conferred a similar level of immune protection as the higher dose
Nicotinamide = Niacinamide
Now Foods, Niacinamide, 500 mg, 100 Capsules

Remember it may be cheaper elsewhere but IHERB are usually cheaper shipping to UK.$5 discount code WAB666

You may be confused about the claim that UVB is immunosuppressive as I's sure you all know that Vitamin D controls the immune system and people with higher levels of 25(OH)D status catch fewer bugs and some are hardly ever or very rarely ill with infectious diseases. The problem is that our immune system works both as an on and off tap.It needs regulating so it can be turned up and turned down as required. This requires two different substances unfortunately they are upregulated at different rates given a rise in Vitamin D levels and this catch up period could leave you unprotected.
this paper explains it in relation to cancer incidence but it's the same idea for immune function.
How to Optimize Vitamin D Supplementation to Prevent Cancer, Based on Cellular Adaptation and Hydroxylase Enzymology

It also explains why it sometimes happens that people spend a week on the beach in the sun and then catch something on the plane breathing recycled germs in the aircraft on the way home. Ideally people should build up their Vitamin D levels BEFORE going on holiday, not only for the extra photoprotection but also to limit the size and range of any fluctuation in level. The higher above the 40~50ng/ml range the less you will be affected by and change in status.
Part of the trouble is that in vitamin D deficient people,the initial response to full body sun exposure is huge, but it tapers down one your 25(OH)D more than covers your daily needs and you are just storing the remainder.
If you miss out that stage by raising status with supplements first it saves the problem. But the Vitamin B3 are cheap enough so may be worth considering.

Interesting, but then please explain to me why I got skin cancer on my cheek, when I have only started wearing sunscreen on my face AFTER it was detected and removed?

Ted Hutchinson, some of my bad burns were while we were living in London, on cloudy days!! One particularly bad one on the Isle of Wight while on a sailboat, on a cloudy day....

Like kind2creatures, I spent many years in the tropics or otherwise lying in the sun in the quest of the "perfect tan" - sorely regret it now...

I did not say ALL melanoma's occur in skin the sun doesn't shine on but MOST. It is entirely possible for melanomas to occur inside the body or on your face. In the same way no one would suggest that applying sunscreen to the inside of your body to prevent melanoma it is equally ridiculous to suggest that sunscreen applied to the face prevents melanoma's on the face.
The research shows quite clearly that people with higher vitamin D status have a better melanoma prognosis and fewer repeat cancers than those with low vitamin D status. If follows that every measure you take to reduce your vitamin D status such as applying sunscreen to the skin most usually exposed to sunshine, inevitably increases your risk of melanoma recurring.

Doesn't that just prove how totally maladjusted to your environment you have become. You desperately need to make some changes to your diet and lifestyle to enable you to function at the latitude your DNA evolved to function best in.
We did NOT evolve to live in cities.
In cities and indeed any urban environment air/traffic/industrial pollution produces OZONE, this prevents UVB from reaching ground level, so urban dwellers will make less vitamin D than people spending the same time in the sun at the same latitude in the country.
Similarly UVA is reflected from buildings, roads and hard surface. UVB is required for vitamin D production, Excess UVA exposure, from high pressure tanning lamps, will damage not only your skin but also degrades the vitamin D near the surface of the skin.
You must COVER UP your skin to prevent it burning. Make no mistake about it if your skin burns you will also have damaged all the vitamin D required to repair and protect that skin.
White Caucasian skin did not evolve in the tropics.
The first thing anyone needs to do BEFORE putting their body under stress is to ensure it has acquired the necessary means to deal with that stress.

If it was particularly hot and you were going on a long journey you would check the car had sufficient coolant BEFORE setting off.

When you expose skin to inflammatory stress but don't first ensure it has available an adequate supply of NATURAL ANTI INFLAMMATORY AGENTS (such as a vitamin D level around 150nmol/l, an Omega 6 <> Omega 3 ratio under 4.5 <> 1 and an adequate magnesium intake) then skin will burn because YOU have neglected to ensure it is up to it's natural specification, in the same way your car will overheat, under stress, if you don't keep the coolant maintained to the manufacturers original specification.

It isn't the cars fault if it overheats because you failed to check the coolant before setting off on a the long journey on a hot day.

It isn't your skin's fault if it burns because you choose to eat a pro inflammatory diet while failing to ensure adequate anti inflammatory coolant resources are present BEFORE exposure to potentially inflammatory stress.

eeep... maybe I will just go outside with a long sheet over my head, and an umbrella for good measure

Thanks for your explanation.

I still have a question though, do we know for sure that our ancestors who ran around half naked in the sun never had skin cancer?

So, just to be sure, if I up my levels of vitamin d in my diet, or supplements, I can still use the sunscreen? I can cover up my body, but short of wearing a mask on my face, I can't always be wearing a hat....

Just came across this site, may be a more natural option?

https://products.mercola.com/summer-survival-kit/

Of course we didn't invent skin cancer in 1975 but it was around then that we started having high levels of PUFA (OMEGA 6) in all the foods we buy and they also started promoting HFCS in everything.
But if you look at the top end of this plot

and the trend from 1975 here

Malignant melanoma has been one of the most rapidly increasing cancers in the United States, with an estimated annual percentage increase in incidence of 3% from 1975 to 2000.

Look also to the increase in alcohol problems

and the red line showing total caloric sweetener consumption.


What are we seeing?
Don't tell me correlation isn't causation I know that.

Perhaps it's just that we have too much light nowdays and our bodies don't have the chance to repair themselves properly at night. I think all these stresses will play a part and contribute towards the upward trend.But the bulk of the problem has occurred over the last 40 years and we can turn that clock back if we use our common sense. The sun has always been there. The problem is why are 3% more melanomas happening year on year.
Just look at the trend in the rise in sunscreen sales and the trend in melanoma incidence.

The more sunscreen we use the more skin cancer occurs.

If you were a dermatologist looking for new business what better way to keep yourself in employment.

No If we take MS for instance we know there is more to UV exposure than JUST vitamin D.
UV radiation suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis independent of vitamin D production. We don't yet know why but UV exposure from sunlight can prevent disease by means other than just increasing Vitamin D status. Miss out on the UV and you miss out on the other benefits.

Sure so long as you understand how it increases your risk of skin cancer.
Why not see how easy it is to improve your skin's natural sun protection. I haven't used sunscreen for years. Yet I'm go into the sun whenever I can for as long as I can. If I can improve may ability to stay in the sun so can you, whatever your skin type it's resistance to UV can be improved.

Is it possible that there is a rise in melanoma because more and more they are being checked out and diagnosed?

My father never had a "skin check" and by the time one was suggested 20 years ago, he had so many melanomas and basal cells they didn't even know where to start... so I figure that in that year alone, 10+more melanomas than the last year were reported...

So, more people with skin cancer, therefore more people buying sunscreen?

And sorry, don't mean to be dense, I'm still not quite sure how I would go about improving my skin's natural sun protection?