Sunscreen

April 26th, 2006 at 07:02am Jodi

With summer right around the corner, this article (from the Dr. Knapp weekly newsmail) takes about sunscreen safety with children. Thought I would share.

Bug spray and Sunscreen

Use of Deet has been shown to be safe and effective in preventing insect bites. It can be used down to 4 months of age in concentrations of up to 25%. I prefer to keep it at 10-15% preparations and start it’s use at 4-6 months old. All concentrations above 10% block the same amount of insects but the higher ones last longer time. The 10% deet repels just as good as the 50% but they last a different length of time. I like to put less on the skin but apply it more frequently. 10% lasts 2 hours, 30% lasts 5 hours, and 50% lasts 10 hours. Older kids can use the higher concentrations and teens can use the 50% deet without worry. Do not apply to the hands of infants and small children. You can spray your hand and apply it to the face of infants. Careful about applications of deet because it can harm plastics (eyeglass frames), synthetic fibers like rayon and spandex, leather, some watch crystals. It does not harm cotton or wool.

There are two other repellants without deet. One is Picaridin is a synthetic safe repellant that does not harm fabrics like deet and it only lasts 2 hours. It is available in 7% concentrations (Cutter Advanced) The other product is Oil of lemon eucalyptus which is a plant based repellent and lasts 90 minutes of protection. I don’t recommend SkinSoSoft.

Sunscreen products are variable and act differently. The SPF is confusing. The higher number only lasts longer but does not protect any better.(Just like the deet.) The SPF 15 will protect even very sensitive skin but only lasts 2 hours. The SPF 30 would last 4 hours. The mistake is not putting enough on the skin to get the full effect and less SPF 15 would result in an effect of SPF 7. So put plenty on the skin. So many people recommend 20-30 SPF because they figure you will not put enough on the skin. You should use a sunscreen that protects both UVA and UVB rays. Apply it 30 minutes before going out and apply it before you put Deet repellents on the same areas. Do not use the combined products that have sunscreen and repellents in it. Apply sunscreen every 2 hours. The water resistant or sweat resistant products only last 40 minutes and the “very water resistant” products only last 80 minutes. So you need to apply them when swimming very frequently. Consider putting a small T-shirt on them when swimming a long time. They are also starting to manufacture “wet suit” type tops for children to wear. One study from Europe showed children whose parents always kept shirts on their children had far less moles as adults than those who did not wear shirts. Tanning beds are worse than the sun so use the tanning chemicals, which are safer.

Entry Filed under: General