{"id":6743,"date":"2019-07-25T20:13:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T03:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/?p=6743"},"modified":"2020-03-22T20:37:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T03:37:28","slug":"what-lupus-patients-need-to-know-about-sunscreens-and-sunblock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/what-lupus-patients-need-to-know-about-sunscreens-and-sunblock\/","title":{"rendered":"What Lupus Patients Need to Know About Sunscreens and Sunblock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What Lupus Patients Need to Know About Sunscreens and Sunblock<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the last 20-30 years, Americans have become wiser about sun protection.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the sunscreens that received FDA approval at that time did not provide full-spectrum coverage.\u00a0 The emphasis was on protecting against ultraviolet B (the burning rays).<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For patients with lupus, protection against ultraviolet A is just as important.\u00a0 Sun from the A spectrum beats down on us all day, throughout the day, and it can depress the immune system. The UVA rays also harms connective tissue and elevates the risk of melanoma.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultraviolet A risk also does not ebb and flow as the ultraviolet B does.\u00a0 By mid-October in most locations, the chance of a sunburn from ultraviolet B is dropping rapidly, but the UVA dangers remain so that\u2019s why this protection is additionally vital.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UVA\u00a0radiation also penetrates glass. A study by US Food and Drug Administration scientists suggests that UVA exposure through windows may be the reason for an observed increase in melanoma skin cancer among office workers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What You Can Do:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first and most important \u201cto do\u201d item now is to check the sunscreen you own.\u00a0 Does it have helioplex (used in Neutrogena products) or Mexoryl 5 (found in La Roche\u2019s Anthelios product) in it?\u00a0 If your sunblock says it is \u201cbroad spectrum\u201d but lacks these ingredients, it isn\u2019t broad-spectrum enough.\u00a0 Toss what you have and go to your local pharmacy and read carefully. Not even all Anthelios products have Mexoryl 5.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This advice will change as more products are coming out claiming UVA protection.\u00a0 Movement is underway for a separate rating system for UVA. Given the amount of damage the A rays can cause to anyone, this is something consumers should advocate for.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Remember the meaning behind the current ratings:\u00a0SPF 15 means you are 15 times more protected than with no protection\u2026 SPFs below 15 are al little value for people with lupus.<\/li>\n<li>Use a broad spectrum (UVA\/UVB) sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher every day. For extended outdoor activity, use a water-resistant, broad spectrum (UVA\/UVB) sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.<\/li>\n<li>Apply 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of sunscreen to your entire body 30 minutes before going outside. Reapply every two hours, or immediately after swimming or excessive sweating.<\/li>\n<li>Sunscreen needs to be applied every 2-3 hours especially on the face.\u00a0 Protective clothing and wide-brimmed hats are also useful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most lupus patients don\u2019t need to avoid the sun; they just need to take precautions just as everyone else should be doing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research based on\u00a0<em>The Lupus Book: A Guide for Patients and Their Families\u00a0<\/em>by Daniel J. Wallace, M.D.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Lupus Patients Need to Know About Sunscreens and Sunblock For the last 20-30 years, Americans have become wiser about sun protection.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the sunscreens that received FDA approval at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,57,68,59,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expert-lupus-opinions","category-living-with-lupus","category-lupus-symptoms","category-lupus-topics","category-traveling-with-lupus"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6743"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6761,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743\/revisions\/6761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.mab.marketing\/lupus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}