Safe Fun in the Sun

from Shine Newsletter, Summer 2006

With thousands of miles of hiking and biking trails and more than 300 days of sunshine each year, Colorado is known as a nature-lover’s paradise. But all that fun in the sun can have a price.

Although a sunburn or two in childhood may seem harmless, the more exposure your child has to the sun — especially in Colorado, where we are more than a mile closer to the sun than nearly any other major city in the United States — the greater his chance for skin cancer as an adult.

But never fear — even if your child has spent lots of time around the pool or on the slopes, there are ways to protect his skin year-round.

• Always apply a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher 30 minutes before going outdoors.   Reapply it every two hours and after swimming.
• Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen (one that protects against UVB and UVA rays). Look for ingredients like PABA esters, salicylates and cinnamates, which absorb UVB rays. Ingredients that protect against UVA radiation are avobenzone (Parsol 1789), oxybenzone and sulisobenzone.
• The top recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is to keep infants under 6 months old out of the sun or at least covered by brimmed hats, long pants and long-sleeved shirts. However, if these measures are not possible, the AAP states that it’s OK to “apply a minimal amount of sunscreen to small areas, such as the infant’s face and the back of the hands.”  Previously, it was recommended to never put sunscreen on babies because of the thinking that their small bodies were not developed enough to safely handle the chemicals.
• Schedule outdoor activities before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. to avoid the sun’s strongest rays.
• Seek shade from a tree, building or umbrella whenever possible. Also wear a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses with 100 percent UV protection.
• Increase the protection of clothing by using laundry aids that boost clothing’s ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) to 30. (The average white T-shirt has a UPF of 5, and less when wet.)
• Keep in mind that the SPF of sunblock (or UPF of clothing) can tell you how long your child can stay in the sun without burning. For example, without sunscreen, most children can stay in the sun for five minutes without burning. An SPF of 15 means they can stay in the sun 15 times longer, or three hours.