Topline
Online groups and a number of social-media influencers have started a trend of claiming sunscreen is harmful for the skin and doesn’t protect against skin cancer, even though years of science-backed research reports the opposite.
A man applies sunscreen to a woman as they visit the beach.
Key Facts
Wellness subgroups are pushing the belief that sunscreen and other products that prevent skin cancer are only being peddled by “pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare industry” in an attempt to sell products and villainize the sun.
A prominent figure in the movement is micro influencer “Tan Man,” who encourages tanning without sunscreen because he believes the product is “bad for the skin” and the environment, claiming the skin is meant to “absorb the full unadulterated power of the sun’s rays.”
On Twitter, another popular anti-sunscreen influencer urged his followers to ditch sunscreen in favor of maintaining high levels of vitamin D because the vitamin makes it “almost impossible to develop an autoimmune disease.”
According to Harvard Health Publishing, vitamin D isn’t very effective at preventing autoimmune disease, with only 9.5 people out of 1,000 seeing a decrease in risk after taking vitamin D supplements.
Melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, is one of the most prominent cancers in the U.S., according to the Comprehensive Cancer Centers—over one million Americans are diagnosed with it.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, sunscreen should be applied everyday regardless of race or age, and reapplied every two hours if outdoors, swimming or sweating.
Using sunscreen everyday as directed lowers risk of developing melanoma by 50% and reduces risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma—a type of skin cancer that develops in the middle and outer layer of the skin—by 40%, the Skin Cancer Foundation reports.
Big Number
9,500. That’s how many people are diagnosed with skin cancer every day in the U.S., according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association. It’s estimated that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.
Crucial Quote
“We have to understand that there are carcinogens in nature, and too much UV radiation from the sun is an example of that,” Saira George, a dermatologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said. “Our bodies have amazing protective mechanisms in place to handle sun damage, but they haven’t evolved to overcome damage from the excessive sun exposure many of us rack up in our lifetime.”
Key Background
A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reports 80% to 90% of all skin cancer diagnoses are associated with UV radiation. Sunscreen protects the skin by preventing the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays from absorbing into the skin. According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, the sun protection factor (SPF) on a bottle of sunscreen’s label indicates how well the product protects against ultraviolet B (UVB) rays, which are responsible for sunburns. The higher the number, the longer a consumer can stay out in the sun without getting burned. However, no sunscreen is 100% burn proof, as sunscreens with SPF 30 are 97% effective and sunscreens with SPF 50 are 98% effective. Sunscreen also protects the skin from photoaging—wrinkling, skin sagging and aging due to the sun’s rays. According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, regular sunscreen use slows down photoaging. The group of participants that used sunscreen daily saw no detectable signs of skin again after 4.5 years, and skin aging was 24% less in this group than in the control group.
Tangent
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, there are three common types of skin cancers. The most common is basal cell carcinoma (BCC), which mainly affects those with fair skin, and BCCs grow slowly and aren’t typically life threatening, the University of California, Davis, reports. Squamous cell carcinoma, which is also more common in lighter skin people, can look like a scaly patch, a red bump or a sore that constantly heals and reopens, and if left untreated, can spread to healthy tissue and other organs and potentially lead to death. Although not as common, melanoma is seen as the “most serious skin cancer” because of its ability to spread throughout the body. Melanoma can appear as a dark spot on the skin or in an already existing mole. Because it’s hard to control once it spreads, it’s critical that melanoma is caught early on. If caught early on, there is a five-year 99% survival rate, but if it spreads to the lymph nodes, that rate drops to 68% and even lower to 30% if it spreads to the organs.
Further Reading
Anti-Sunscreen Influencers Want to Fry Your Skin (Rolling Stone)