SPF Safety
There has been a lot of hype recently about sunscreen safety for both people and the environment. Having spent most of my professional career cutting skin cancers off patients and watching some of them die because they were not caught early enough can make a girl question what are we to do? How do I keep the earth happy and patients healthy? While I may not have all the answers, I can tell you what I know and what I do for my family.
In May, I spent a couple of days with Dr. Sarkas, a particle scientist with expertise in synthesis and production of particles including mineral UV filters, discussing the safety of SPF. Being a “tree hugger” and yet wanting to protect my kids from skin cancer, one of my concerns was are these nanoparticles being absorbed by the body? He reassured me that the nanoparticles were not even close to being small enough to be absorbed through the skin and get into the body despite speculation from some other “tree huggers”! Second, I was concerned with these chemical sunscreens (the ones I can never pronounce-Oxybenzone and Octinoxate) and about their absorption into the body. I know many people prefer the feel of these, including my husband, but I have never felt comfortable endorsing them. He validated this. He explained to me that the amount of chemical reactions that occur in the body from these chemicals is probably more dangerous than the sunburn. He said that if someone tested their urine 6 hours after applying the sunscreen, the chemicals would be detected. Yikes!
He also shared with me some recent studies he had performed with the new Colorescience Face Shield and the reformulated Sunforgettable brush (both with Enviroscreen Technology) to some top competitors on antioxidant boosting and free radical prevention. I was blown away! What did I take away? If you were not using Zinc oxide, your antioxidant serums were being annihilated! But by using Colorescince Enviroscreen Technologies, we have the potential to increase our own antioxidants while decreasing Free Radicals and protecting the antioxidant serums so they can work for us!
I was a big believer in Colorescience before this meeting with Dr. Sarkas, but became a true Colorescience groupie after. My kids wear the brush daily (it is their preferred SPF on the face). I have used several Colorescience products as part of my daily ritual for years, but incorporated the Enviroscreen products from face to all exposed body parts from that meeting on.
We carry all the Enviroscreen products in the office. Whether you want to protect from the sun for aging or medical reasons, you need these. There is nothing comparable on the market. And guess what? I can pronounce all their ingredients!