to your health

To Your Health: Sun Protection

May 6, 2023 | 12:23 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — With warmer weather, comes the chance to get some more sun, but it’s always important to have some sunscreen handy, as we learn more about sun protection in this week’s to your health.

Sun protection is key to help keeping our skin protected from exposure to sun and UV rays, as long term exposure has proven not to be good for our health. Sunscreen is the most common form of protection to protect your skin from the sun.

When it comes to sun burns, once you have one, there isn’t a lot of remedies to help it go away faster, which means waiting it out.

“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do. You can use all of your base lotions. Sometimes those are fairly soothing. And with that, you kind of want to go for ones that don’t have green dyes. And just because the lotion is like, naturally clear, but a lot of companies will put the green in there for whatever reason.” – Brett Chiasson, Pharmacist, Third Avenue Pharmacy

When you go to pick up a bottle of sunscreen, you will always see the SPF on the front, which means Sun Protection Factor and SPFs can go from 15 to 70. The SPF is a measure of how well a sunscreen will protect skin from UVB rays, the kind of radiation that causes sunburn and damages skin.

However, when it comes to choosing a sunscreen that is right for you, you should consider not just the SPF, but also the ingredients.

“Another thing to consider with different sunscreens, aside from just the SPF, is the ingredients in the sunscreen. Usually for young children, they recommend like more like a barrier type sunscreen. So of like titanium dioxide where it completely blocks out the sun.” – Brett Chiasson, Pharmacist, Third Avenue Pharmacy