Dr. Mitchell Elliott Bender

So what I recommend to people are the

Physical sunscreens, the ones that reflect, they're absolutely safe.

There's no absorption.

There's no damage to the environment.

And again, they contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.

And these are available.

They're not expensive.

The other practical thing is the Academy recommends sun protection and SPF, sun protection factor of 30 or higher.

If you use a sunscreen SPF of 30, you're filtering out 97% of the ultraviolet B as in berry light.

This is the cancer-producing sunscreen.

If you use the number 50, you're filtering out 99%.

So does it really matter if you use 30 versus 50?

Maybe not so much, but there were some practical things you should know.

First of all, it's best if you put it on about 15, 20 minutes before you go out because it will kind of bond to the skin and give you better protection.

We recommend...

that you put it on every two, two and a half hours because you will sweat it off.

Or if you go swimming, it will wash off.

So we recommend you put it on.

We recommend using about an ounce.

An ounce is about a shot glass worth of sunscreen on your body.