Fun in The Sun with Sunscreen

You don’t have to avoid beach vacations or hide inside all summer! As a mohs surgeon and mother, there is nothing more important than skin cancer prevention and protecting my kids. I love dressing them in rash guards with UPF 50 (Sun Smarties is a favorite brand) and wide brimmed hats (my son lost his wide-brimmed hat in the ocean the last day of our trip, hence the backup baseball cap in photos).  For sunblock for all of us, I love the Elta MD line of sun protection as it is broad spectrum, made of transparent “micronized” zinc oxide (and therefore not chemical sunblock), non pore clogging, and the water resistant ones are VERY water resistant.  These have withstood the ‘beach to ocean to pool and repeat cycle’ that my kids run me through on vacation.  I like to start my summer and vacation days with the UV Pure Water Resistant SPF 47 for face and body and then reapply every 2 hours with that or the UV Aero if the kids get very sandy or wet.  You have to be careful with the spray sunscreens to be diligent about thorough application, but I believe the sprays do have their place when it comes to reapplying sunblock on active kids who will barely hold still. We also all get a slathering of the UV lip balm (under lipstick it also doubles as a protective lip primer) as skin cancer on the lips can be extremely aggressive and devastating.  For everyday wear, if I’m not going to be in the water, I like Elta MD UV clear facial sunscreen or Skin Medica total defense and repair sunscreen which has antioxidants for antiaging and UV repair.  Think of this as a sunscreen with multivitamins for your skin.  Whichever combo of protective clothing/sunblock  you choose, rest assured that you can still be safe and have fun in the sun!

#protectyourkids #widebrimmedhats #swimshirts #EltaMD #BantheTan #IReapply

Dr. Heidi Anderson-Dockter

Full Disclosure: Although my practice does sell Elta MD and Skin Medica products (as they are exclusively physician-dispensed),  this is an unsponsored post. All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for them.