Broad-Spectrum Sun Protection

A lot has changed in sunscreen since its beginning. The ancient Greeks are said to have used olive oil to protect themselves from the sun. Surprisingly enough, this tactic was not very effective. Throughout the early 20th century, several inventors tried, and failed, to create an effective sunscreen. In 1938, Franz Greiter, a Swiss chemistry student, invented one of the first known sunscreens after he severely burnt himself during an ascent of the Piz Buin. He called his invention Gletscher Creme, or, in English, Glacier Cream. With an SPF of 2, Glacier Cream was not the most effective of sunscreens, but it was definitely a start. A few years later, in 1944, a pharmacist named Benjamin Greene created a sunscreen that was not too unlike the sunscreens we use today. World War II was in full swing, and many of the soldiers were getting badly burnt – even to the point of hospitalization. In his wife’s oven, Dr. Greene created a sticky, red substance, which he christened Red Vet Pet, or Red Veterinary Petrolatum. It worked by physically blocking the sun’s rays with a thick, petroleum base, similar to Vaseline. Greene tested it on his own, bald head, and although it still wasn’t nearly effective as today’s formulas, it provided a firm base for future sunscreens.

After these modest beginnings, more modern forms of sunscreen emerged. In the past few years, sun care companies experimented with purple, green and blue sunscreens, in which younger consumers delighted. Sprays and roll-on formulas became popular for their convenience and novelty, and thus sunscreen evolved.

Primarily, sunscreens are used to prevent sunburn. The painful redness and irritating peeling is definitely not something to be desired. But, the prevention of sunburn goes much deeper. Sunburn may cause nausea, dizziness, fever, blisters, rash, and can be life-threatening. Sunburn is also the main cause of skin cancer, and can cause damage to DNA, which may then be passed on to the future generation of a cell’s progeny, leading to an increased risk of hereditary skin cancer. If that doesn’t scare you enough, just one incident of blistering sunburn doubles the risk of malignant melanoma, the type of skin cancer that causes the greatest amount of skin cancer-related deaths. Yikes!

Fortunately, in this day and age, there are many effective sunscreens for a large group of different skin types. SPF (Sun Protection Factor) ratings are issued in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA evaluates sunscreens using a formula based on the amount of time a person can spend in the sun with sunscreen, relative to the time they can be exposed without sunscreen. For example, a person that usually burns after 12 minutes in the sun may spend up to 120 minutes if protected by a sunscreen with an SPF rating of 10. Although SPF ratings provide an easy to understand guide for the amount of protection given, there are other factors to take into account, such as: