MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Summer means more time outdoors in the sun, but a new social media trend encouraging people to skip sunscreen has skin experts worried.
The anti-sunscreen trend has become particularly popular on TikTok, where videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
Sunscreen is meant to protect the skin, including preventing cancer, but influencers claim that sunscreen contains carcinogenic chemicals that damage the skin.
A quick search on TikTok will reveal hundreds of videos showing how being exposed to the sun without barrier protection improves your skin.
“My initial reaction was, that’s crazy,” said Dr. Teresa White, chief of pediatric dermatology at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. “We have a mountain of really good, robust and compelling data that excessive sun exposure, particularly sunburn, increases your lifetime risk of skin cancer.”
Dermatologists say there are occasional stories of sunscreens containing harmful chemicals, but most of the time, it’s a result of the manufacturing process, not the sunscreen itself.
Prolonged unprotected exposure to the sun can cause your skin to age prematurely, and repeated sunburns can increase your risk of developing skin cancer, which can take years to develop.
“You need to reapply it every two hours,” says Mindy Ruford, M.D., a family nurse practitioner at Methodist Medical Group, Inc. “The SPF should be at least 30. Anything above 30 isn’t going to be effective.”
Health experts say that everyone should use sunscreen, whether they have light or dark skin, and that you should apply it every day you go outside.
Experts also say it’s a good idea to keep track of your pet’s condition and report any changes in color or size.
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