INNOVATION

DEFINITION

Sunscreen is a lotion, spray, gel or other topical product that absorbs or reflects some of the sun's ultraviolet radiation on the skin exposed to sunlight and thus helps protect against sunburn.

HISTORY

The first effective sunscreen may have been developed by chemist Franz Greiter in 1946. The product, called (Glacier Cream), subsequently became the basis for the company Piz Buin, which is still today a marketer of sunscreen productsIt has been estimated that (Glacier Cream), had a sun protection factor of 2.

The first widely used sunscreen was produced by Benjamin Green, an airman and later a pharmacist, in 1944.

This product was developed during the height of World War II, when it was likely that the hazards of sun overexposure were becoming apparent to soldiers in the Pacific and to their families at home. Sales of this product boomed when Coppertone acquired the patent and marketed the substance.

Franz Greiter is credited with introducing the concept of sun protection factor in 1962, which has become a worldwide standard for measuring the effectiveness of sunscreen

Newer sunscreens have been developed with the ability to better withstand contact with water, heat and sweat.

BENEFITS

Sunscreen use prevents melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma, two types of skin cancer There is little evidence that it is effective in preventing basal cell carcinoma

A 2013 study concluded that the diligent, everyday application of sunscreen can slow or temporarily prevent the development of wrinkles and sagging skin. The study involved 900 white people in Australia and required some of them to apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day for four and a half years. It found that people who did so had noticeably more resilient and smoother skin than those assigned to continue their usual practices.

COMPOSITION

Sunscreens contain one or more of the following ingredients:

• •       Organic chemical compounds that absorb ultraviolet light.
• •       Inorganic particulates that reflect, scatter, and absorb UV light (such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or a combination of both).
• •       Active ingredients: The principal ingredients in sunscreens are usually aromatic molecules conjugated with carbonyl groups. This general structure allows the molecule to absorb high-energy ultraviolet rays and release the energy as lower-energy rays, thereby preventing the skin-damaging ultraviolet rays from reaching the skin.

DOSAGE

More recent research at the University of California, Riverside, indicates that sunscreen must be reapplied within two hours in order to remain effective. Not reapplying could even cause more cell damage than not using sunscreen at all, due to the release of extra free radicals from those sunscreen chemicals that were absorbed into the skin.