You can’t stop getting older but if you’re worried about skin aging there are certainly some factors in aging skin that you can prevent. There are a range of factors that cause aging of the skin and sun damage is one of the biggest. For the best skin care, sunscreen is essential, but isn’t everything.

It’s the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight that causes the damage. There is both UVA and UVB in sunlight, and it is the UVB radiation that burns your skin. But it is insufficient merely to stop the UVB radiation.

That’s because UVA radiation, although it doesn’t burn your skin, is primarily responsible for skin aging as well as many of the worst skin cancers.

There is no requirement from the FDA for the labelling on sunscreens to tell us how much UVA protection is in any product. As a result in the summer of 2008 there were only 29 percent of sunscreens with UVA protection included. That rose to 70 percent one year later however that still left 30 percent of products with no UVA protection. And no UVA protection can lead to skin cancer and premature skin aging.

And as there is no requirement for labelling it is difficult to tell from the label how much protection your sunscreen really offers. If you have premature skin aging then sun damage from UVA exposure may well be the cause even if you have used sunscreen carefully to avoid skin sun damage.

And there can even be ingredients in sunscreens, such as oxybenzone, which has been shown to be a hormone disruptor and even cause skin cancer.

You would expect that consumers could be confident that a sunscreen will prevent them from suffering sunburn, skin cancer and skin ageing, however at the moment that is not a fair assumption. When buying a sunscreen you need to be extremely careful.

Sun protection doesn’t just involve sunscreen. In fact sunscreen should be a last resort and used only where necessary, far better is to use a long sleeved shirt and a hat, or even better to stay out of the sun during the middle of the day, particularly in summer.

As they age many men and women become more interested in anti aging skin care. However most fail to realize that preventing sun damage is one of the biggest things you can do for better skin care. Make a promise to yourself today that, starting today, you will avoid skin sun damage, and if you combine that promise with the use of the best anti aging products there are then you’re well on your way to an effective anti aging skin care routine.

Some anti aging products, namely the good ones, help reverse ageing of the skin, but preventing skin sun damage is one of the best ways to combat wrinkles and skin sagging in old age and must be a part of a quality anti aging routine.

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