In the Western Hemisphere, summer is quickly fading into a memory. However, there are still some sunny days left before the snow comes. In view of this, many people are doing whatever they can to take advantage of their fun in the sun. They need to take steps to protect their skin from sun damage. In order to do this, many people use sunscreen and they get advice from doctors who work at an Austin dermatology clinic. When people buy their bottles of sunscreen, they will see that they have labels on them with the letters SPF and then a number. The vast majority of people do not understand what these SPF ratings mean and how they relate to sun protection.
For starters, the term SPF stands for sun protection factor. This means that the SPF number is an indicator of the amount of protection sun block provides from the sun or more specifically from the ultraviolet rays that come from the sun. It is these ultraviolet rays that cause sunburn. Sunburn is extremely dangerous. While it is true that everyone needs a little bit of sun in order to get vitamin D, if their skin gets tan, this means that their skin is damaged. If their skin gets sunburned, this means that they are putting themselves at risk for cancer. Individuals can consult the doctors who work at Four Points Dermatology clinic for information about sunburns and sun protection. This is a high quality office that provides Austin skin care advice and treatments.
To understand the SPF labels on sunscreen a person should think about the following scenario. If an individual would get sunburned after being outside for just five minutes without any protection, a sunscreen with SPF 30 protection would provide them with 30 times the amount of protection that they would get without any sunscreen. It means that they would have approximately 150 minutes or 2 1/2 hours of protection against the sun. There helps a person to see the difference between a high and low level SPF sunscreen.
It is recommended that sunscreen be replied once every hour to areas where the sunscreen has been wiped away. This is more important than applying a sunscreen with a higher SPF rating. SPF numbers are not an exact science. They just give a estimate time of protection. The results of using sunscreen are going to vary from person to person and skin type to skin type. Sunscreen has the best effect if it is applied at least 30 minutes prior to sun exposure.
