Sunscreen Is Your Skin’s Best Friend. Seriously.

As a recovering “tanaholic”, I know first hand the havoc that sun damage can wreak on the skin. At 39, I got skin cancer. It was just a teeny tiny pinprick sized dot on the end of my nose, but it took MOHS surgery and many stitches to remove. Now, my nostril pulls up on one side from the scar. Which isn’t great, but it does act as a permanent reminder for me to wear sunscreen everyday. Rain or shine. Summer or winter.

Bottom line, sunscreen is your skin’s best friend. It protects it from the sun’s damaging UVA and UVB rays. You know, the ones that cause brown spots, melasma, broken blood vessels, fine lines, wrinkles and sagging skin due to collagen breakdown. Yes, the sun destroys the underlying fibers in the skin that help keep us looking youthful and fresh faced well into old age.

So, right now, you’re probably feeling pretty guilty about that expired bottle of sunscreen in your bathroom that never gets used, and wondering “Why bother?”. Don’t. Because here’s the thing:  it’s never too late to start. A good sunscreen and a Retinol product can reverse a lot of sun damage. Trust me, I know.

Only 2 Things to Consider

Despite all the hype, there are really only two things that you need to consider when choosing a sunscreen:

1.  It must provide both UVA and UVB protection.
2. And you need to like the way it feels. Otherwise, you won’t wear it.

Favorite Sunscreen

After polling all of my plastic surgeon clients, the Elta MD brand of sunscreen came out the clear winner. What makes it unique is that the blocking agent is a transparent zinc oxide which acts as a physical barrier between your skin and the sun, just like the white zinc paste that lifeguards used to wear on their nose back in the day. Only this one actually dissolves. I use their UV Daily Broad Spectrum SPF 40 on my face as both a moisturizer and a sunscreen, and their UV Shield Broad Spectrum SPF 45 on my body over my body cream. Neither feels gooey or heavy although if I’m going to be outside either exercising or in the water, I apply the UV Sport SPF 50. It definitely feels more “sunscreeny”, but, then again, it’s waterproof. Other good brands to try are SkinCeuticals, Neutrogena, and Alba Botanica.

And if I need to reapply during the day, I use a mineral sunscreen powder because, really, who wants to put gooey sunscreen on over their makeup? Yuck! This one from Peter Thomas Roth comes in an easy to use tube. I keep one in my car. Just be careful not to bang the bottom too hard in a fit of impatience. Because, you know, it might explode and douse your black dress, the inside of your car and your purse with a lovely layer of very fine powder. Not that it’s happened to me or anything…..