This Grandma has had the same dermatologist for forty years. Gulp! It is hard to believe that I have used the same doctor for that many years. He is my age and now when I see him I tell him to please not retire. It is hard to find the best dermatologist, and I have him.
Fortunately, he says he does not intend to retire. I tell HIM to take care of himself.
My most recent appointment to review something he removed (and after years of skin damage–remember we are the generation who used baby oil, iodine and sun reflectors!) came after having just watched the Today Show earlier in the day. I had just seen the segment on ultraviolet screening and sunscreen. He knew all about it.
We discussed what the Today Show had presented, and what is discussed on their website.
Fewer American kids are using sunscreen and too many are hitting the tanning salon in an unhealthy bid to be browner, U.S. health experts reported Thursday.
The latest survey shows a worrying drop in the proportion of high school students using sunscreen, from more than two-thirds – 67.7 percent – in 2001 to 56 percent in 2011. And even though the federal government warns that indoor tanning raises skin cancer risk, more than 29 percent of white girls still used them in 2011.
“These findings indicate the need for prevention efforts aimed at adolescents to reduce risks for skin cancer,” Corey Basch of William Paterson University in New Jersey and colleagues report in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. “Skin-protection behaviors are especially important for children and adolescents because sun exposure during childhood and adolescence directly influences the development of skin cancer later in life,” they wrote. The incidence of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has been rising by more than 1 percent a year since 2001.
The video segment on the Today Show showed what our skin looks like under ultraviolet light and what it looks like when sunscreen is applied. I said if we all actually saw our skin under ultraviolet light, we would all wear more sunscreen. I said I was surprised that the sunscreen actually blacks our skin and protects it from the sun.
Not all sunscreens, he responded.
I was interested. I told him that Consumer Reports had done a study and Target’s Up & UP Sport SPF 50, with an overall score of 80 was the highest rated. Six sunscreens, including the top scorer, were rated “very good overall” and were recommended by the magazine. They were: Wal-Mart Equate Ultra Protection SPF 50, Coppertone Water Babies, Walgreens Continuous Spray Sport SPF 50, Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch SPF 30 and Coppertone Sport High Performance SPF 30.
He said that what we saw on the Today Show applied and looking black under the ultraviolet light was sunscreen that contained zinc oxide and titanium and that is what we should be looking for–not only for our grandchildren but ourselves too. He said Aveno and Neutrogena make them.
Neutrogena Pure and Free Baby Lotion SPF 60 has the ingredients.
You can get it at Amazon.
Aveno Baby Natural Protection Lotion Sunscreen with Broad Spectrum SPF 50 can also be found at Amazon.
I included the warnings and directions from Neutrogena, his first recommendation for a sunscreen, as it includes what he emphasized. Put on a lot of sunscreen and put it on often, especially if the grandchild is swimming.
And this Grandma adds, consider putting SPF clothing on the grandchildren when they are swimming. As visit presents, this Grandma brings the cutest swim outfits.
I always trust Consumer Reports, as they do independent testing. Even more than
Consumer Reports, I trust my dermatologist of forty years. Even though the summer is near end, this Grandma’s next visit presents are going to include the best dermatologist’s recommendation of Neutrogena Pure and Free Baby Lotion SPF 60.
Joy,
Mema
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