Thanks. That's important info for us gardeners.

Jim

Check the ingredients on your sunscreen...if it has Avobenzone and Oxybenzone then you have "helioplex" (trade name). Most every one does these days, even the cheapie ones.

The generic local drug store (Rite Aid) brand has those 2 and another UVA/UVA blocking chemicals in them. Think of all of them mixed together as some kind of "broad spectrum sunscreen mix."

A lot of older sunscreens (especially the cheap ones) only had 1 or 2 specific sunscreen active ingredients in them whereas these days you'll see 2-4 in a bottle.

One more thing about sunscreens... The cheap ones may have all the right ingredients, but if you need waterproof/extra moisturizing/long-lasting mixtures it all starts with the stuff that's not the actual sunblock.

The cheap/regular stuff is good for kicking around and low/medium activity stuff. I use "sports" or "high activity" types if I know I'm going to be sweating a lot. Luckily, I don't need a moisturizing sunscreen at this point in my life, though I'd want one at least for my face if I was applying the stuff a whole lot.

I'm a big fan of my doofy looking wide brimmed Tilley hat even when just kicking around town.

obrionusa,

I too spent most of my life outside until I was diagnosed with skin cancer. Since diagnosis, I limit my time in the sun to early morning or late afternoon, use sunscreen and wear hats. Twice a year I go to the plastic surgeon and give my "pound of flesh" having any spots surgically removed. My face, chest and back have taken the brunt of the cutting. With all the precautions I take, the side effect is I now have a severe vitamin D deficiency.

All in all it could be a lot worse. It's been about 10 years now and I've finally developed a routine that doesn't keep me holed up in the house afraid of the sun.

Needless to say I harp on my family constantly about sunscreen and hats but sometimes it falls on deaf ears. :-)

Bottom line is: I still garden, boat, ski, snomobile, swim, hike, mow the lawn and whatever. I just use hats, canopies and shade more than before. Oh and I don't sunbath any more!

And be sure to use enough sunscreen. Even people who use it often don't put on enough to be effective. You need to use about one ounce (a shot glass full) each application.

The sun does not only damage your skin, but will also damage your eyes. I've been diagnosed with a pinguicula on my left eye. It is a noncancerous tumor like growth that I will someday have to have surgically removed. I could have avoided this simply by wearing UV protective sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat everytime I went to the garden. Please don't make the same mistake that I made.

Good thread! I started using Neutrogena SPF 15 moisturizer on my face every day when I was 18, and am so glad I did. As a horseperson, field ecologist and gardener, I get my share of sun, and I think the daily protection from UV has done as much or more to protect my skin than using the higher SPF products for more prolonged/intense sun exposure. Now there is an SPF 70 that I use on my face, ears and neck when I'm out very long in summer, and use the Banana Boat Sport SPF 40 on my arms. My former boss, a wildlife biologist, was also in the process of giving his "pound of flesh" and drilled the importance of sun protection into all of us, since they never gave sunblock a second thought when he worked in the field in the 70's and 80's.

Thanks for the info on the active ingredients - it's good to know that the effectiveness of sunblock has advanced recently.

I should be a great candidate for skin cancer, not that I want it. Back in the 70s, that Coppertone look was mandatory. Plus, I worked in tobacco fields, so it was not hard to get a lot of sun.

One spring I was preparing the fields on a bright, sunny day. Of course, no shirt and I got sunburned. Unfortunately, I had some baby lotion and rubbing it on my back really helped - for a while. Imagine doing that all day long! By the end of the day, I had the mother of all sunburns! That's when I learned taking a hot bath, soaking in the hot-as-I-can-stand-it water in time took the sting out.

Another year, my summer job was working for a roofer. I think I missed maybe three days that year because of rain. Again, no shirt and very, very short pants. My tan that year lasted until December!

Yep, I probably will have to pay for this.

Mike

My mom died in January of Melanoma, 20 months after being diagnosed at stage 3 (spread to the lungs, later the brain). She was a red-head who grew up in southern California and southwestern Colorado during the 40s and 50s (pre-sunscreen), so she KNEW she needed to keep watchful. During the last 15 years of her life she saw her dermatologist twice a year. He dismissed the growing spot on her face for years, and that is what killed her.

So, in addition to lots of sunscreen and regular visits to your dermatologist, PUSH FOR A BIOPSY of anything YOU think needs checking, no matter what the doctor says. I pushed for a biopsy last summer, and the mole did come back as transitional/pre-cancerous. Now I have been bumped up on my doctor's watch list.

Oh, and it turns out that even before I started slathering on the sunscreen after my mom's diagnosis, I was ALREADY vitamin D deficient. My kids (redheads) and I all now take vit D supplements and cover up as much as possible.

Catherine

Great advice I certainly am listening. I have always used sunscreen on my face out of vanity for wrinkles when that research came out, but I baked before that and I am worried now.

Thanks!

I was a sun worshiper too! I went to tanning salons from age 16 or 17 to age 25/26. Shame shame, I know! But luckily IÂm not so crazy about tanning any more. I do still visit the tanning bed occasionally from Nov-Feb, but not for a tan. I only go about once every two or three weeks for only about 15 mins. During the winter, I suffer from pretty bad seasonal depression, and the winter sun is just not high enough for the rays to penetrate the atmosphere.

In summer, the vitamin D-boosting benefits are easier to reap, in moderation of course. After 30 minutes in the sun, max, I always apply sunscreen to my face and chest, and put on a sun visor. And I try not to ever sit in the sun for more than 1 hour at a time.

Benefits, in moderation, include: Vitamin D or sun exposure may protect against a host of diseases, including cancers of the breast, colon, kidney, and ovarian cancers. It is also linked to benefits in overall mortality, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis, bone health, osteoporosis, heart dieses, depression, and insomnia.

Caroline

Here is a good AP article about the science behind 'safe sun.' Happy safe gardening this sunny weekend!

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Too little sun as bad as too much?'

This is all great advice. (Boy, I need to get some sunglasses!) I can add just one bit to the discussion. Several years ago, I developed a severe allergy to sunscreens. (You wouldn't believe how many cosmetic products come with it mixed in!)

Two years ago, I found Neutrogena Sunscreen for Sensitive Skin and have been able to tolerate it. Just a note for any other allergics.

All you sunscreen slathers need to likely supplement with vitamin D3. Most people that avoid all sun are likely severely deficcent...especially in wintertime.

All this because our distant ancestors strayed to the high latitudes and tarried there overlong (related query: why don't the Inuit and other far northern non-lightskinned peoples have vitamin d deficiencies?). Very inconsiderate of them not to think that we might like to return to the sub-tropics.

Fish are abundant in vitamin D...almost all cold water fish are high in D, especially salmon.

I spent 9 years in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Florida and Texas. I just had a lesion removed from my scalp (fortunately benign!) that the surgeon told me was directly attributed to overexposure to the sun. I have a lot of capillaries (spideweb) on my cheeks caused by overexposure to the sun. I was in the military and used hang out at the beach every chance I got. In fact, in Hawaii, I practically lived on the beach. I spent a lot of time outdoors in Texas and Arizona and as a kid in Kansas...well, anyone who lives in Kansas knows how hot and sunny it is here. We wore "suntan lotions" Maybe in the 60s and by the 70s and 80s I was using stuff that was supposed to enhance your tan and not protective at all. About 1984, I saw what the Florida sun was doing to the fiancé of my sister-in-law's brother. I quit hanging out in the sun, totally exposed like that. I made sure I was using good sunscreens and sometimes would wear a hat to keep the sun out of my face. I still hang out, outside, love to go to the lake, the seashore, I used run a lot, I work my farm but I always wear a cap with a brim. When I'm on the farm, I wear an Amish style hat with a wide brim (those guys know what they were doing...). I also wear sunglasses. Repeated overexposure to bright sun can lead to premature cataracts. You need Vitamin D from the sun. Being outdoors and enjoying the fresh air is good for you. Just be careful of overexposure and protect yourself, especially kids. Start protecting at a young age. Get a high SPf and wear sunglasses!

Star Stuff - That's an interesting article.
When my mother started having heart trouble, they tested her for a Vitamin D deficiency. It was very low and they put her on supplements. I read that supplements aren't as effective as getting Vitamin D from the sun though.

Yes Christie, I saw that too, in the above:

"Vitamin D occurs naturally in salmon, tuna and other oily fish, and is routinely added to milk. However, diet accounts for very little of the vitamin D circulating in blood, Giovannucci said.

Supplements contain the nutrient, but most use an old form - D-2 - that is far less potent than the more desirable D-3. Multivitamins typically contain only small amounts of D-2 and include vitamin A, which offsets many of DÂs benefits.

As a result, pills might not raise vitamin D levels much at all...

But too much of the pill variety can cause a dangerous buildup of calcium in the body. The government says 2,000 IUs is the upper daily limit for anyone over a year old.
On the other hand, D from sunshine has no such limit. ItÂs almost impossible to overdose when getting it this way. However, it is possible to get skin cancer."

Thanks Donnabaskets for the sunscreen recommendation. I'm allergic to most sunscreen and I hate buying it as it is expensive to use it once and discover it gives me hives! I'll be trying the neutrogena sensitive.