Nikki Sommer, a nurse practitioner with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning for Medical Matters.
Sunscreen is so important in the Florida Keys, but how much should a person use?
Sommer said, “It’s two fingers length of sunscreen that you should put on your body if you’re using a cream screen. For the body we said it was a shot glass amount, so take a shot glass to the beach, one for tequila, one for your sunscreen. Just kidding. I wanted to bring this up again, because a lot of people love to use the spray sunscreens, and you need to rub it in, and down here it is windy all the time, so you need to make sure you cover your body, because we were just out on the boat on Sunday, and I don’t normally get the spray, but we had one, and it was really, really windy, so most of the sunscreen I think blew away before it hit the skin. Of course avoid spraying in your eyes and your face, and don’t inhale it. Photo protective clothing, this is very beneficial down here, a lot of fishermen, you’ll see, wear it, and this is great for boating and the beach. I know a lot of people like to show off their pretty bathing suits. However, if you do photoprotective clothing, or it’s also called UPF, the fabric is designed to help block the ultraviolet radiation from reaching the skin, so a UPF 50 shirt blocks about 98% of UV radiation, so not all clothing protects equally. Thin white shirts may allow some of the UV rays to go through. Wet clothing becomes less protective, and tightly woven fabrics offer better protection. So, again, UPF clothing is beneficial for boaters, fishermen, divers, athletes, outdoor workers, children, people with melasma, because remember, heat and sun can trigger a flare of melasma and make those darker patches darker. Of course, patients recovering from laser procedures, we limit the amount of laser we do during the summer, but again, we are in the sun here all the time, all year round. So it is important to protect your skin after any type of laser procedure, and of course, anyone with skin cancer. So, if you had skin cancer before, you’re susceptible to get it again. Pigment is pesky, as I always say.”
What kind of protective gear is out there?
Sommer said, “They have the long sleeve shirts, rash guards, wide brim hats, UV blocking sunglasses. This is big, and when you look for sunglasses, they have the tag on them, so make sure that they block out the UV rays. Neck gaiters, those neck buffs, I call neck buffs, I guess they’re also called gaiters to protect your neck, because your neck and your chest tend to get abused in the sun. You don’t think of it, your hat covers your face, but you need to protect your neck and your chest as well.”
All skin tones need photo protection.
Sommer said, “This is a misconception that if you’re a darker skin type, you don’t need to protect yourself from the sun. That is not true. Yes, darker skin has more melanin protection, but they are still susceptible to UV damage, pigmentation, and skin cancer can still occur. When you have darker skin, skin cancer is usually diagnosed later, because it’s harder to see the change in the area, so it doesn’t matter if you’re light or dark, protect your skin.”
After lasers and esthetic procedures, you need to protect your skin.
Sommer said, “We have the following, and I always talk about sunscreen with everybody, even in the consultation. If you don’t have a service with me, you decide to go somewhere else, you still need some protection, even radio frequency micro needling, or regular micro needling, we are damaging the skin barrier, so you need to definitely wear SPF. Chemical peels is a big one. Chemical peels peel your skin, and there’s all different degrees of chemical peels that could be light, where your face will flake, and then they have the more aggressive ones, where your parts of your face acts actually like I don’t want to say fall off, come off in sheets, you’re triggering to get rid of the old damaged skin and target new skin to form, so you’ve got to think of when the new skin forms after one of these procedures, and laser resurfacing is another one, you have baby skin, it’s brand new skin, so you need to protect it, it’s like you’re getting a fresh slate, so you need to make sure that you do what you need to do to keep it looking fresh, and sunscreen SPF is what you need to do.”
Without sunscreen and proper aftercare, what could happen?
Sommer said, “Hyperpigmentation, meaning your darker spots don’t go away, they could get worse, or new ones can form. Prolonged redness, so, again, when you have that brand new skin, if you go out and you expose it, you can get that redness. And I talk about this all the time. Everybody that comes to see me, we all have redness here. It’s from chronic sun exposure. So, if I’m treating that, you need to take care of that area just like a baby’s bottom, otherwise you’re going to remain red. And then reversal of the results and poor healing, so you are susceptible to not healing correctly.”
What about vitamin D or sunscreen blocks relative to vitamin D?
Sommer said, “People worry that you don’t get enough vitamin D and that sunscreen blocks it, and vitamin D is associated with a lot of chronic medical conditions, so you still produce vitamin D even while using sunscreen, and the benefits of using sunscreen outweigh the risk of excessive UV exposure. So, vitamin D can be taken as a supplementation. Vitamin D and calcium go together. It’s how you keep your bones strong, so people worry about, like, osteoporosis and inflammation. However, you can replace your vitamin D with food and vitamin supplementation, so it’s more important to block the rays of the sun. Sunscreen is just not for going to the beach, or on the boat, or hanging out by the pool. It’s daily health care for your skin. It should be part of your routine. Women kind of have an advantage because they put sunscreen in their makeup or in their lotions, so it becomes more part of a routine for women more than men. But men need to either have a bottle, if they’re not going to moisturize their skin, that’s okay, that’s their choice. Just have a little bottle of SPF of 50 in the bathroom, and apply that before they leave the house in the morning. And the biggest thing is, if you are out in the sun, reapply at least every two hours, at the minimum. Sunscreen, protective clothing, hats, sunglasses, and staying in the shade can all prevent skin cancer, premature aging, worsening of pigmentation, and collagen breakdown.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/