Dr. Bonnie Marting

Which Sunscreen Works Best?
I get asked sunscreen questions a lot, especially from people wanting to know what I personally use here in the South Florida sun. I prefer something that is a physical blocker. I use and recommend products from Fallene, specifically TIZO for the face. TIZO is a non-chemical based sunscreen that contains Titanium di-oxide, Zinc oxide, and Iron. These physical blocks provide long-lasting protection. If you want to remove it, you literally have to wash it off. That’s a plus because it means the block is more resistant to swimming and sweating.

But don’t fool yourself into thinking that with this sunscreen, you can be out for long periods of time and be completely safe. Unfortunately, no matter what they may claim in the fancy advertisements, no sunscreen can protect you the way being indoors (and out of the sun) and wearing protective clothing can. Though I’m sure that wearing a teeny weenie polka dot bikini may be highly cute, it’s not very functional when it comes to shielding your skin from sunburn.

With that noted, I realize we don’t want to spend all our time bundled up hidden behind layers of clothing, or hiding out in our air conditioned homes. We want to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and spend time outdoors. So be smart! Wearing sun block will help protect you, just make sure it’s the right kind and that you reapply it.

What’s the right kind? As I stated earlier, I prefer the physical blockers like Tizo and feel they are the best at true sun protection. This is because they don’t break down in the heat, sunlight or while underwater. They’re your best bet.
What about SPF? What in the world is that anyway?
Good question with a not so easy answer. First ..no matter the SPF, you can’t just apply it once and forget about it! You have to reapply if you are going to be out for an extended time. One reason is because every minute you are out in the sun, you are subtracting points from your SPF. See, the SPF on a product basically tells you how long you can be exposed with their sunscreen on, as opposed to if you were wearing none. So if a sun block has an SPF of 30, it is telling you that you can stay out in the sun 30 times longer than if you weren’t wearing any protection at all. This is still a hard to understand concept- because 30 times longer doesn’t mean 30 minutes, just as an SPF of 8 doesn’t mean 8 minutes. It’s not a great system in terms of knowing how much protection you need, but with everyone’s skin type being so different, it was the best measurement they could come up with.

The other thing a sunscreen can’t tell you is when you need to reapply. Though the directions may read, “every two to four hours”, you really need to gauge it based on how likely you were to have rubbed it off. You must factor in your swim time, your sweating, how much you scratched off when you were bitten by that sand flea, and how many times you brushed the hair away from your face causing your forehead to now be free of lotion.

Obviously, if you have removed some of the sunscreen doing these normal things, you’re going to be less protected and more likely to burn. We’ve all seen the difference on our skin when an area you thought was protected didn’t quite get the sun block you applied everywhere else. I could never get to that place directly below the area between my shoulder blades. I finally realized this spot on my back is now a mandatory husband duty whenever we’re out in the sun. One only needs to see and feel the big red tender area that was missed to know just how much you appreciate all the other places that were covered.

So be sun-smart and use protection often. Not only will you feel better at the end of the day, but you’ll be beautiful right now for many, many years to come.