Your Summer Sunscreen Refresher
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is the show, of course, where I get to answer your health questions. You know, Memorial Day is now in the rearview mirror, and the official start of summer is shimmering just ahead. So no doubt, plenty of us are going to be spending more time in the sun. And that means it's a good time to turn our attention to summer health concerns. And you have a lot of questions about this. So Jennifer, what do we have first?
All right, Sanjay, up first, we have a couple of questions about sunscreens, namely whether mineral sunscreens are better than chemical sunscreens and whether certain ingredients should be avoided. What do you think?
I have a lot of thoughts on this, Jennifer. People are going to be spending more time outdoors. Hikes, bike trips, festivals, backyard barbecues, pool parties, the beach. Preventing sunburn. Taking care of your skin. Obviously, a great idea. An important idea for now and for your future. So, I'll tell you what you need to consider when buying sunscreen after this short break. Welcome back to Paging Dr. Gupta. To mark the unofficial start of summer, we went into our mailbag to tackle a sometimes slippery topic, sunscreens, and what you should really consider when choosing one. First of all, quick reminder of why I talk about this topic so much, why wearing sunscreen is so important. Number one, your skin is your largest organ in your body.
And sunscreen can help prevent that organ, your skin, from developing cancer.
Skin cancer is caused by exposing the cells in the skin to UV radiation and particularly UVB radiation. So UV radiation comes in different flavors, so to speak. So those most harmful rays cause skin cancer by causing mutations in the DNA in our cells. So if you get one, It's generally not a big problem, but what happens if that mutation occurs in a gene that's really important for DNA repair, for example, so our cells are not so good at DNA repair and then we get another mutation and then we potentially get another mutation and then eventually we tip our cells over into forming into a skin cancer.
That was Dr. Rachel Neal, a principal research fellow at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia.
What are the key differences between mineral and chemical sunscreens?
She has been studying skin cancer for about 30 years and spoke to my colleague Meg Terrell on this show a couple summers ago. Dr. Neal's research in the 1990s and early 2000s really helped establish that sunscreen is effective at reducing skin cancer rates, including for the most deadly kind.
So there are three main types of skin cancer. The one that's most dangerous is melanoma. And people do die from melanoma every year because it can spread beyond the skin. So if it's not picked up early enough, then by the time it's diagnosed, it can have spread to other organs in the body as And then we've got these other types of skin cancer. So these are squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma, and collectively we call them keratinocyte cancers because they arise from a type of cell called a keratinocyte in the skin.
Now, importantly, Dr. Neal said that sunscreen helps guard against some of the most deadly skin cancers by both preventing those blistering sunburns that can be common in childhood and also reducing lifetime exposure to UVB radiations. Now, the second reason sunscreen is a good idea is that it protects you from premature signs of aging, such as wrinkles and brown spots. You see, the thing is UVA and UVB rays can both damage cells on the top layer of skin. And that can lead to red, rough, and scaly patches, which can get worse over time. UVA rays in particular can penetrate to the deeper layers of the skin, damaging the cells that are responsible for giving you a tan. They are called melanocytes.
And what happens is you might get hyperpigmentation, brown spots, sometimes called age or liver spots. UVA, incidentally, also breaks down elastin and collagen. Those are proteins that live in the even deeper layers of the skin, and that's what causes the loss of elasticity, wrinkling, and thinning of the skin.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–2:33
2
What are the key differences between mineral and chemical sunscreens?
2:33–6:55
3
What should you consider when choosing a sunscreen?
6:55–7:37
4
Why is wearing sunscreen important for skin health?
7:37–8:54
5
How do UV rays affect skin cancer risk?
8:54–14:11
Speakers
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