To protect the skin from excessive sun exposure, the use of sunscreen is highly recommended not only on the skin area of the face but also used on other parts of the skin surface of the body. In addition to focusing on medicine, the Pharmacy Profession also studies cosmetic preparations and skin care. Therefore, let’s look at the explanation of the Q&A with Mrs. Nuraini Ekawati, M.Sc., Apt. regarding Skin Protection and Sunscreen below.
Q: What is sunscreen? What is the function of sunscreen for the skin?
A: Sunscreen is a skin care product that serves to protect the skin from the influence of UV rays from the sun that can damage the skin. The functions of Sunscreen include:
- Protects skin from UV rays
- Prevents premature aging
- Prevents the appearance of black spots
- Lowers the risk of skin cancer
- Prevents sunburn
- Maintaining skin tone
Q: What is the difference between sunscreen and sunblock?
A: Sunscreen uses a variety of active ingredients that work by absorbing UV rays and removing them from the skin as heat energy before these rays penetrate the skin deeper. Examples: avobenzone, oxy benzone, and para-amnobenzoic acid or PABA. Sunscreen usually does not leave any marks after applying it and the color is transparent following the original color of the skin. Meanwhile, the sunblock works like a shield that blocks it, then reflects UV rays. Example: zinc oxide or titanium oxide. The use of sunblock tends to leave white casts or white marks on the skin.
Q: Is it true that exposure to blue UV light (laptop/smartphone/tv) is the same as exposure to UV light from sunlight?
A: Sunlight has a spectrum consisting of UV light, visible light, and infrared. Blue light is a visible light whose wave range is close to UV. Although visible light carries lower energy than UV, continuous exposure cannot be ignored, especially blue light, which has the closest wavelength to UV light. Blue light is naturally emitted by the sun but, artificial blue light is also often found from the screens of electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, and TVs. Therefore, exposure to UV rays and blue light both have a bad effect on the skin. If not anticipated, it will cause premature aging, skin discoloration, inflammation, and weaken the skin layer.
Q: Is it true that SPF on sunscreen can affect the protective power of the skin?
A: SPF stands for Sun Protector Factor which is an information about how well the product protects the skin from sun exposure. SPF is also a determinant of how long you can deal with sunlight without experiencing sunburn. A person who will normally have erythema within 10 minutes. By using sunscreen with SPF 15, it means that a person after being exposed to sunlight will get protection for 150 minutes. However, the value of SPF is not directly proportional to the protection power.
- SPF 15 has 93% protection against UVB
- SPF 30 has 97% protection against UVB
- SPF 50 has 98% protection against UVB
Q: How do you use a good sunscreen?
A: The use of sunscreen is usually adjusted to the area of skin to be protected. If it will be used on the face, then use special sunscreen for facial skin. How much or how thick sunscreen is used can affect the protection of the skin. Sunscreen products will provide protection as claimed by SPF if used as much as 2mg/m2 on the surface of the skin.
The surface of human skin is divided into 11 areas, each of which consists of 9% of the surface area of the body, including: 1. Head, neck & face; 2. Left arm; 3. Right arm; 4. Upper back; 5. Lower back; 6. Torso front top; 7.Torso front bottom; 8. Left upper leg/thigh; 9. Right upper leg/thigh; 10. Lower left foot/foot; 11. Lower right foot/foot.
To make it easier to use and ensure the amount of effective sunscreen, the conversion is carried out using the “Fingertip Unit” method which is equivalent to 2mg/m2. The “Fingertip Unit” method is carried out by means of the preparation removed from the packaging, then placed on 2 finger segments (index finger and middle finger, where the preparation is contained from the base to the fingertips), and applied to each part on the 11 skin areas above. This conversion can meet the sunscreen needs of each person with a different Body Mass Index (BMI) size.
———————————————————————————————————-
Pharmacy Study Program | Faculty of Medicine | Diponegoro University | 2023 | Ig: farmasiundip