When asked what I consider to be the most important steps of a daily skincare routine, I always place sunscreen at the top of the list! Since May is Melanoma Awareness Month, let’s talk about how essential sunscreen is to your skin’s health. It’s incredibly important for your skin to wear SPF every day. Not only will it prevent burns, but it will reduce the chances of fine lines and wrinkles, and discoloration, as well as harmful melanomas and other skin cancers. Prevention is your best weapon against the sun’s harmful rays!
With summer fast approaching, sunscreen should never be far out of our reach. Always pick a broad spectrum SPF, with 30+ being my go-to. A good water resistant formula is key, and don’t forget to reapply every 2 hours, especially if sweating and/or swimming! I highly recommend Supergoop’s ZincScreen 100% Mineral Lotion and Sun Bum’s Clear Zinc. Both contain zinc oxide and help to protect your skin from damaging UV rays and air pollution. People with sensitive skin should look for products that are fragrance-free and/or hypoallergenic, so make sure to keep your eyes open for those qualities when walking down the sunscreen aisle.
And of course, we can’t forget about our little ones! Children especially need to wear sunscreen as their skin is extra sensitive to the sun. To help keep your kids safe, I recommend sunscreens that are fragrance-free, hypoallergenic, and paraben-free. My favorites for my family are Baby Bum SPF 50 Sunscreen, Pure & Free Baby Sunscreen Stick, and Bioderma’s Photoderm Kid.
It’s also pertinent to remember that the easiest way to protect your skin from the sun is to cover up! Big hats are always a fun and easy way to shade your face, along with wearing UPF clothing, which is specially designed to protect your skin from UV rays. And never forget a cute pair of sunglasses!
There’s no better time to double check the expiration dates on your products than as we enter into a new season. Keeping on top of their expiration dates helps to prevent you from dealing with irritation or possible infection from the expired or contaminated products, and it ensures the SPF is effective in protecting you against harmful UVA/UVB rays. To learn more about how to tell if your skincare products are no longer safe or effective, check out our post here.
If you have been dealing with discoloration, fine lines, or other sun damage effects to your skin, there are plenty of treatment options for you to choose from to restore and improve the health of your skin! You can learn about the differences and benefits of chemical peels, Fraxel laser, and Botox treatments here, and you can always contact me for a telemedicine consultation to determine what you and your skin’s needs are. Our practice can be reached at (212) 220-0776 or by visiting us online at drmarnienussbaum.com.
Follow me on Instagram at @drmarnienussbaum for more skincare advice, or to ask me your skincare questions during my weekly #UnfilteredDerm Q&A sessions!
There is not a more caring, more attentive, smarter dermatologist than Dr Marnie Nussbaum. I trust her implicitly with anything and highly recommend her.
— Carolyn Rosen
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