While the Miami sun is surely bright, blissful and beguiling, it is also blinding and unavoidable.
Living in the sunshine state, Floridians need to be mindful of skin health and take extra precautions to prevent devastating sun effects.
Florida is known to have the highest skin cancer rate, 7.1%, in the United States. This alarming statistic underscores the urgency of Florida’s need sunscreen when taking in the golden hour.
Many make excuses as to why they do not need sunscreen or think they are immune to the harmful sun rays. They feel that it is stupid to take an extra 3 minutes to apply sunblock, because they have never been sunburned, already have pigmented skin or they have lived in a sunny climate their entire life and have always been fine. Others are just lazy.
Sunscreen is crucial, and excuses, ignorance and laziness can lead to many forms of skin damage: sunspots, sunburn, wrinkles, reduced skin elasticity, degradation of skin texture, premature aging, and skin cancer.
Between 10 AM and 2 PM you should be extra careful because that’s when UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) are strongest. Even on cloudy days, 80% of sun rays penetrate through the clouds. UV rays interact with the melanin in skin, stimulating greater melanin production, resulting in a visible tan or burn if not protected against UVB rays.
Applying sunscreen everyday should and can be easily incorporated into any daily routine. Mixing it into your daily moisturizer is one easy way to get protection. Or if you wear foundation or concealer, go for products with SPF.
In terms of selecting an SPF value, it is suggested to purchase sunblock with an SPF of 30 (resists 97% sun rays) or higher ideally in a broad spectrum sunscreen that fights against UVA and UVB rays.
The sun’s effects are gradual; one may not notice them immediately. Just as daily, extensive sun exposure without protection increases risk to skin damage, the daily routine of applying sunscreen can protect and prevent it.
Skin is worth the investment, so let’s give it a glow up with sunscreen!
words_baila mudgil