© Amy Walters - Fotolia.com
Just in time for a holiday weekend that usually ends up with many sunburned victims, a scare goes up about some sunscreens actually causing cancer. Yes, someone near and dear to me alerted me to this startling fact this morning. I’ve learned to search out the whole story before getting too excited about the alerts from this individual.
Having done some volunteer work with the American Cancer Society, doing talks about protecting our skin from sun, I remembered the information they gave us, and how thorough it was, and all the many things that they warn about being carcinogens. I wondered what ingredients in sunscreen have suddenly shown up as needing to be on the list! Vitamin A.
So before you start checking sunscreen ingredients and tossing out anything with vitamin A, let’s get more information. Darrel Rigel, dermatologist and skin cancer specialist says there is not much merit to the information. He states, “They’re arguing that, because vitamin A thins the skin, it makes us more susceptible to skin cancers, but there is no evidence that even suggests that.” The fact is, vitamin A and its derivitatives are used by dermatologists to effectively treat signs of sun damage, as well as treat both cancerous and precancerous skin cells. He goes on to say, “This is very disappointing. I’m scared that people are going to go outside this weekend, think sunscreens are dangerous, and not use them.”
Here’s a little Sun Safety Quiz. Love the skin you’re in, it’s the only one you’ll get. Take care of it!
