If skin cancer didn't convince you... Breakthrough study finds daily sunscreen use stops wrinkles in their tracks
By Helen Pow
|
Sunscreen not only guards against skin cancer but it also fights wrinkles.
A new Australian study has found daily use of sunscreen significantly slows the aging of skin caused by the sun's ultraviolet rays - something that may encourage even the most dedicated sun-worshipers to cream up.
'This has been one of those beauty tips you often hear quoted, but for the first time we can back it with science,' Queensland Institute of Medical Research senior scientist and lead author of the trial Adele Green said.
Sun damage: The study found adults who wear sunscreen daily age more slowly than those who don't (stock photo)
'Protecting yourself from skin cancer by using sunscreen regularly has the added bonus of keeping you looking younger.'
The study found that adults who regularly applied broad spectrum sunscreen - which protects against both ultraviolet B and ultraviolet A rays - over a four-and-a-half year period had no detectable aging of the skin.
They also had 24 per cent less skin aging than people who used sunscreen less frequently, according to study.
The randomized, controlled trial, published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine, is the first study of its kind. Previously, the only scientific evidence for the beneficial effects of sun screen on wrinkling was in hairless mice.
The researchers randomly assigned 903 adults, ages 25-55, to use SPF15+ every day on their face, arms and hands with frequent reapplications or to use sunscreen at their discretion.
Cream: The researchers randomly assigned 903 adults, ages 25-55, to use SPF15+ every day on their face, arms and hands with frequent reapplications or to use sunscreen at their discretion (stock photo)
Silicone impressions, or molds, were
taken from the backs of all participants' hands at the start and end of
the trial to grade the damage over the four-and-a-half years of the
study.
The adults were all aged under 55 to ensure the changes noted were primarily due to photo-aging rather than chronological aging.
The researchers found those using daily sunscreen were 24 per cent less likely to show increased wrinkling over the period.
Regardless
of sex, age, skin color, occupation, skin cancer history, weight and
smoking, everyone benefited from daily sunscreen use. 'And the study has
shown that up to middle age, it’s not too late to make a difference,'
Green said.
Any sunscreen stronger than SPF15+ might have had only a marginal additional effect, according to Green as SPF15+ blocks about 94 percent of ultraviolet B rays, which are responsible for sunburn, while one with an SPF of 40 filters about 97.5 percent.
Trial: Researchers used a silicon cast, pictured, to measure fine lines in the skin of the hand over time
Breakthrough: Researchers compared fine lines on the hands of hundreds of people who, for more than four years, had been assigned to rub on sunscreen daily or only when they deemed it necessary and compared the casts, pictured
'The more important issue is applying the sunscreen well and reapplying it often,' Green told NBC News.
Previous research suggested that sunscreen could lull sun-worshipers into a false sense of safety, and see them staying out longer in the sun.
'The sunscreen has to be applied thick enough and in all areas to be effective,' Dr. Thomas Ruenger, a professor of dermatology at Boston University, told NBC News.
Ruenger recommends using a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 20 or 30 and reapplying every two hours and after sweating or bathing.
'You have to protect yourself against both UVA and UVB, and so I recommend people use a sunscreen labeled broad spectrum,' Ruenger said.
A lot of sunscreens on the market protect only against UVB rays, he told NBC News.
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Here in the UK we need at least 20 minutes in the sun with no cream to ensure we get enough vitamin D. My doctor advised this when I was found to be deficient and at risk of osteoporosis. He assured me that 20 minutes without protection would do me no harm.
- lesley-57 , Durham, United Kingdom, 04/6/2013 11:55
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