A Sunscreen Love Affair

By Karyn Repinksi

A slew of new ingredients and formulas boosts cancer protection while keeping your skin young. But are you getting the protection you think you are?

News flash: There will be nearly 60,000 new cases of melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, diagnosed this year. Yet amazingly, many of us still aren't serious enough about sun safety. At least that's the finding of a recent Harris Interactive survey of almost 2,400 adults.

Though nearly half reported becoming more vigilant about using sunscreen in the past 5 years, only a paltry 200 respondents said they apply it daily -- a dangerously low number, considering we get the bulk of our sun exposure while running errands or driving our cars and not while, say, at the beach. This cumulative exposure has been linked to the development of melanoma, as well as squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common form of skin cancer. Obviously, there's a lot to know about sun protection -- and what you don't know can hurt you and your family. Take this quick quiz to test your sun smarts. No matter how high your sunscreen IQ, we bet you'll learn something.

What SPF should you be using?

1. 15
2. 30
3. 30+

Answer: B. Dermatologists used to recommend SPF 15, but most now say that going higher provides a crucial margin of error. "If you don't apply enough sunscreen -- and most people don't -- then an SPF 15 will be only a 6 or 7," says Andrew Kaufman, MD, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "If you don't use enough of an SPF 30, it may only be equivalent to a 15." Sunscreens with SPF over 30 also have a place, says Kaufman, especially for very sun-sensitive patients (including those with certain diseases like lupus), anyone who's had or is at high risk of skin cancer, and those on medications -- certain antibiotics, antidepressants, birth control pills and hormone therapy, retinoids, and natural remedies such as St. John's wort -- that make skin more susceptible to burning.

When do you most need to protect skin from UV exposure?

1. Every day, year-round
2. In the summer between 10 am and 4 pm -- when the sun is at its peak
3. When it's sunny

Answer: A. It's true that the shorter UVB rays, those that cause burning and play a key role in the development of skin cancer, are strongest during the summer between 10 am and 4 pm. But UVA rays -- which are present during all daylight hours throughout the year, even on cold, cloudy days -- contribute to the development of melanoma. And the damage doesn't stop there. "UVA rays penetrate deeper into the dermis, where they wreak havoc with elastin and collagen fibers -- causing prematurely wrinkled, sagging skin," explains David J. Leffell, MD, a professor of dermatology and surgery at Yale School of Medicine. (Hence their moniker: the aging rays.) Research shows that daily exposures of UVA for 10 minutes result in significant damage to these support structures in a mere 12 weeks. Scary stat: The average person receives 14 hours of sun exposure a week.