by April Nourse

Created on: June 25, 2008

Very rarely do I use sunscreen. My olive-colored skin tans easily and rarely burns. In an effort to teach my children to be responsible in the sun, I am diligent about protecting their fair-toned skin. They wear sunscreen every day to school and on outings when they may exposed to the sun.
Recently my husband and I took a weekend trip Laughlin for Bike Week. Knowing that I would be in the sun for extended amounts of times over several days, I pulled my kids' SPF 50 sunscreen from the cupboard and packed it in my bag. It was time for me to be responsible about my own skin. Little did I know of the effects this sunscreen would have on my skin. I learned more about sunscreen than I would ever expect to know.

After liberally applying the sunscreen to my exposed skin, my husband and I ventured out to the gathering. I checked my skin often for signs of sunburn, ready to cover up if needed. By the end of the day, my skin was not sunburned, but it did itch. Having nothing to soothe the itch, I planned to tolerate it until we got home the next evening.
The next morning, I awoke with a rash on my arms and back where I had applied the sunscreen. It was clearly not a sunburn, looking more like hives. My husband and I racked our brains to think of anything that could have caused this reaction, but we kept coming back to the sunscreen. Being on a bike, I brought and used minimal products - toothpaste, deodarant, sunscreen. The rash was only in the places where I used sunscreen, not where the sun hit.
After we got home and I spoke to many friends, people in chat rooms, and my physician, I found that this reaction was more common than expected. The common denominator in people with reactions: high SPF. Apparently the concentration of chemicals is high enough in these products that it is toxic to our skin. One of my friends experienced third-degree burns from a particular sunscreen that was SPF 50. Everyone I spoke with who had a reaction used a sunscreen with an SPF of 45 or 50.
I would not endorse any particular product, but I would recommend that a person chose the lowest SPF that will fit the needs of his or her skin. On the occasions in the past when I used sunscreen, I used SPF 8 and that is what I have gone back to using, on a regular basis, with no problems. My children use SPF 30 and that has worked well for them so I will stick with it. Protect yourself, but don't go overboard.

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