Sun and risks for the skin. The doctor: “Putting SPF creams on like a job”

Apply sunscreens every 2 hours and when you get out of the water. Children, on the other hand, are better dressed than covered in cream: Emanuele Bartoletti, president of Sime, the Italian Society of Aesthetic Medicine, tells us how to protect ourselves from damage caused by sun exposure.

ROME – Wrinkles or spots on the skin, but also more serious problems, such as skin tumors: with the arrival of summer, on the beach but also in the city, our skin, and even more so that of children, goes protected and given more attention. Here is the right advice from Emanuele Bartoletti, president of Sime, Italian Society of Aesthetic Medicine.

“In summer, patients must prepare themselves toavoid damage from sun exposure. We don’t want people to stay indoors or only under umbrellas, but they must know that if they expose themselves to the sun they face a whole series of risk factors for blemishes, such as wrinkles or blemishes, but above all for pathologies such as skin tumors, I’m thinking of basal cell carcinoma > which generally develops in skin areas exposed to the sun, especially the face, head and neck. Therefore, you should always use sun filters, which should be applied every 2 hours, more. often when you sweat and every time you get out of the water”. on the topic at Dire.

AND BEFORE THE SUN, “TRAIN” THE SKIN WITH SUPPLEMENTS SUPPLEMENTS

“The sun filter – continued the expert – must be taken as a ‘job’ and for it to have an effect it must be applied correctly”. The skin, before the summer , can also be ‘prepared’ for sun exposure thanks to the use of food supplements, which “favor the correct response of the dermis to the sun – explained the SIME president – because they are based on substances that stimulate and improve the production of melanin and reduce rashes, they are now supplements that can be taken throughout the summer, from May to September, and which can give excellent results, even with anti-inflammatory substances – he concluded. which should however be combined with sun protection”.

CHILDREN “AT THE SEA IT’S BETTER TO COVER THEM THAN FILL THEM WITH CREAM”

“There are garments that work as a filter, that is, they block the sun’s rays, so at the seaside rather than filling children with cream we can protect them by covering them. As always, the recommendation is to try toavoid exposing them from 11am to 4pm“. Thus Dr. Emanuele Bartoletti, president of the Italian Society of Aesthetic Medicine, during an interview given to Dire

But in the case of sunscreens for little ones, which ones do you recommend? Is it better to buy them at the pharmacy or is it also fine at the supermarket? “Sun creams are now all of a good standard – replied Bartoletti – recently, however, some scientific articles have launched an ‘alert’ on sun creams with chemical filters, containing substances that could even function as endocrine disruptors, disrupting the patient’s hormonal balance. And this, if confirmed, is disturbing especially in pediatric patients or pregnant women, because it would create a series of problems”.< /p>

PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL FILTERS? THE DIFFERENCES

Sunscreen filters can therefore be physical or chemical. The physical filter is also called mineral filter or inorganic filter and creates a real barrier against UV radiation. Chemical filters, on the other hand, also called organic sun filters, contain synthesized substances that absorb UV radiation, then transforming them into harmless heat.
“The filters act in two ways – explained Dr. Bartoletti – the first is typical of so-called ‘chemical’ filters, i.e. substances which, when applied to the skin, change their chemical form when they receive the sun’s rays: in this case the change absorbs energy and does not let it pass into the dermis form, the chemical filter no longer works, so they have a protective effect on the skin until they have exhausted their functionality. For this reason they must be reapplied more frequently”.
Physical filters, on the other hand, are creams that “contain substances (such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide) which refract the sun’s rays, that is, they do not allow it to pass because they reflect it. Even in this case – concluded the SIME president – the filters tend to go away with sweat and after swimming. therefore they must be reapplied”