The summer will officially come to an end later this month, but there’s still plenty of long and sunny days ahead for many lucky Americans. If you’re planning to enjoy the outdoors soon, though, just make sure not to take any health advice from influencers on TikTok or elsewhere. Contrary to the latest social media fad, ditching sunscreen and intentionally sunburning your skin is not a good way to help treat acne or otherwise improve your health.
People have long tried to undersell or misrepresent the dangers of Sun exposure, often by attacking sunscreen as unnecessary or even actively dangerous. But the anti-SPF movement appears to have picked up momentum as of late, thanks to widespread social media posts from influencers big and small. One common trend touts the benefits of deliberately “sunburning” to ward off acne or generally rejuvenate your skin.
There is a tiny grain of truth to this claim, according to Jennifer Stein, a dermatologist at NYU Langone Health’s Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology. The Sun’s rays contain ultraviolet radiation. And once upon a time ago (aka, the 1950s and earlier), radiation therapy was regularly used to treat acne cases. Doctors are supposed to weigh the potential benefits and risks of a treatment in deciding whether to use it, though. And as we’ve learned more about how harmful radiation can be to our bodies, including our skin, this particular treatment fell out of favor for good reason.
“It worked, but those patients grew up to become older adults with tons of skin cancers on their faces,” said Stein, referencing unfortunately very real stories. Studies have also shown that people who received radiation therapy for acne when they were younger have a higher risk of developing other types of cancer as well.
Nowadays, photodynamic therapy, which uses light in combination with topical drugs that sensitize abnormal skin cells to light, can be used to treat acne, though usually only if other options haven’t worked. And narrow band ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation is used to treat some inflammatory skin diseases like eczema or psoriasis. However, these treatments have little in common with the haphazard Sun exposure promoted by TikTok health gurus. Ironically, in rare cases, radiation exposure can even trigger a bout of acne. Put simply, the well-known risks of Sun exposure for skincare outweigh any possible benefits.
“We know that ultraviolet radiation is one of the biggest risk factors for the development of skin cancer,” Elizabeth Berry, a dermatologist who specializes in melanoma at Oregon Health & Science University, told Gizmodo. “And so this trend is particularly concerning because it goes against the decades of research that show just how dangerous the ultraviolet radiation component of sunlight really is.”
It is true that people with a naturally darker complexion have a significantly lower risk of skin cancer linked to Sun exposure, so sunscreen isn’t quite as important to use for this cohort. But this lowered risk isn’t zero, and there are other reasons why a dab of sunscreen (preferably water-resistant sunscreen that provides broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB with an SPF of at least 30) is still worthwhile for people with darker skin. Too much sunlight can wreak havoc on anyone’s skin, raising the odds of wrinkles and brown spots, Stein notes.
Some research has recently shown that certain ingredients common to chemical sunscreens can be absorbed by the body, which has led to some concerns about the potential effects they could have on us. Berry notes that there are important caveats to this research, however, and that it’s still not certain whether there’s any actual reason to be worried about this possibility. If people still want to stay from these ingredients, there are other sunscreens, particularly those that use zinc oxide, that don’t come with these potential drawbacks. Scientists are also working on next-generation sunscreens that should avoid any absorption risk.
But for those who remain wary of sunscreen altogether, it’s still recommended to mitigate the risks of Sun exposure however you can.
“Even more important than sunscreen are physical measures like wearing a hat with a brim and sunglasses, and wearing clothing that covers your skin, as well as seeking the shade and avoiding the midday Sun,” Stein said. “Being careful about the Sun doesn’t mean you have to be a vampire. You can still have a healthy outdoor lifestyle while protecting your skin from sun damage.”
Berry points outs that there is now specialized clothing designed and tested to provide clear protection against the Sun’s radiation. This Sun-protective clothing is marketed using a rating of Ultraviolet Protection Factor, or UPF (as with SPF, a UPF rating of at least 30 is considered good). At the end of the day, though, sunscreen truly isn’t something to be scared of, so it’s worth pairing any and all of these Sun protection methods together.
“I can’t think of a reason not to use sunscreen,” said Berry.
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