“Suncream causes cancer…”

I do take a vitamin D supplement. High strength from a reputable shop. There is possibly a reason I’m not absorbing vitamin D. However, I never go in the sun and I’m slathered in spf. It’s drilled into us. Stay out of the sun. Wear spf. Would I be as bad if I’d not listened? If spf is only beneficial, studies should be robust enough to show that. I think questioning whether a product is safe is fair and I’ve noticed a lot of skin influencers poo pooing anyone who does as crazy conspiracy theorists. Well my mum doused herself in Johnson’s baby powder and got ovarian cancer. Coincidence? Possibly - but just because something is sold. Doesn’t make it safe

I don't have time to read the full thread so perhaps someone has already mentioned this, but...

Many suncreams use a chemical called octocrylene as a sunscreen. Octocrylene breaks down over time into benzophenone. Benzophenone, which is readily absorbed by the skin, is a known carcinogen. So, you could certainly argue that older bottles of suncream have the potential to cause cancer.

You can reduce this risk if you buy smaller quantities of suncream and use it up quickly, rather than keeping bottles for several years.

I rarely use it unless I have no choice.

I'm very fair skinned and you'll find me well out of the sun if at all possible. If it's not then I'm well covered up and do use cream. The skin is very permeable and the chemical sunscreens are going to be absorbed into the body. We don't yet know the long term effects of that so it's a risk I want to reduce to a minimum.

Have you ever had a child? One that plays outside, plays sports. swims in the sea?

Two thoughts. This has been an ongoing thing in America, hand in hand with seed oils. I would approach 'suncream causes cancer' with extreme caution.

I have extremely pale skin, naturally. Like milk bottle white. Holidays without sun cream as a child= awful sunburn, every time. Why would anyone wish that on a child?

@CareerChange24 your levels wouldn't be that low if you were supplementing Vitamin D as you're supposed to do if you live in the UK.

everyone in the uk is advised to take vitamin D over winter

Does ultra sun £28 in boots save people from melanoma when it has just been tested and failed!

My gut tells me this is hyper inflated, over marketed cream. At best, does nothing. At worst - apparently messing with the endocrine system in regards to oestrogen. Increased oestrogen has been proven to cause cancer. These studies were on mice granted. They won’t want to do there studies on humans. A large amount of money would be lost.

I have spent thousands on bottles of what I thought were trusted brands of spf. Particular for my face. I have been feeling really ill for a while. I got referred to a gastroenterologist who has actually written to my GP basically telling them off, how often does that happen, as my vitamin D levels are 13. Apparently that can cause extreme symptoms which I have been experiencing.

Is being pale truly healthy?

Tell you what has been 100% proven to cause cancer….too much exposure to sunlight……

As a fair skinned person who burns easily I will take my chances wearing sunscreen thanks!

(and yes if you burn easily it does make a difference whether you wear spf 15 or 50, and “gradual exposure” to the sun doesn’t work if your skin doesn’t tan!)

I wonder how much of the suncream causes cancer thought is due to age?

Im mid 40s. In my experience, my generation regularly got sunburn in 80s. Suncream wasn't really thought about unless maybe you were lucky enough to go abroad. However, we have had a lot of education since then and a lot of us are more aware of the aging effects so are more conscious of using it (unlike earlier generations naybe). Also a lot of the cosmetics aimed at our age group have spf in them. So we were burned as kids (high risk) and now use lots of sun cream. Unfortunately this age group is also an age group where certain cancers are more likely. So you could see an empirical argument there. I dont agree with it but I could see people's thought process.

I'm not sure I've explained it well but I hope you can see what Im getting at.

I have multiple chemical sensitivity and allergy to zinc too and can’t use sunscreen with chemicals and zinc in but the Korean mineral ones that don’t contain any of that lot I’m absolutely fine with - have you tried them? Zero reactions to me and they also sink in without that horrible greasy nastiness

Unless your skin is made of metal, I don't think it's remotely relevant.

Not to derail the thread but have seen some people saying about mineral sunscreen and wonder which one they use? I tried one a whole back but it came off in bits on my face and looked awful.

I ask because for the past 3 years I wore SPF 50, a la roche posay one and it has made my melasma significantly worse so I'm changing to a mineral one.

Ozzie dermatologists have been saying the same things for years - it’s the chemical sunscreen that has a chemical reaction when exposed to the hot sun and there have been many horrendous injuries caused to children and adults from it. Mineral sunscreen is fine but the chemicals in the normal sunscreen have caused 3rd degree burns when people have been exposed to it

I am slightly sceptical about sunscreen as I have two friends whose DC have smeared it over their cars resulting in damage to the paintwork requiring the panels to be resprayed.

Not read the full thread.
There are chemical and mineral sun screens. Some people believe that the chemical ones which are designed to be absorbed dont actually protect you effectively (plus some people feel its unhealthy for the body to absorb the chemicals). The mineral ones sit on the skin so form an actual layer over the skin.
Plus, you get the UVB and UVA and not all sun creams effectively address both.
Then , people dont apply them properly or dont understand what Factor 50 etc means.

You cant just throw any old cream on first thing in the morning and think you're grand for the rest of the day.

Her husband died of cancer so I wouldn't judge her too harshly, she's probably terrified of anything which is a possible carcinogenic and has heard stuff about suncream. But agree she shouldn't spread misinformation on a podcast. I have heard that you're supposed to use zinc based suncream now or something but I haven't looked too much into it.

No, it doesn't.. But not using it does increase your rsik of skin cancer.

So as they are now in the sun and as suncream doesn't cover your whole body (eg eyelids, back of ears etc) than there is the statistic that wouldn't have got cancer because they wouldn't be in the sun as much.

I don't know anyone who doesn't put suncream on those places. I close my eyes and put Factor 50 on my entire face, neck, behind my eyes and all in my ears. I work outdoors and never come home burnt.

You don't what's best for you OP but maybe stop spreading this utter bollocks all over the Internet......

Why don’t you put sunscreen in those places? I wear factor 50 nearly every day on my face, including on my eyelids. That’s a bizarre choice not to make! It’s easy to put it on the top of your ears too.

Read my comment above. What you use is a ridiculously low amount of sunscreen. You’ll need more.

According to my observation, most people don’t use enough sunscreen (no, 1 tablespoon of sunscreen is NOT going to be enough for your whole body, it’s only enough for your face and neck)and once they apply it, they think they are invincible under the killer radiation of the unforgiving sun somewhere in Mykonos during an August heatwave. Plus they don’t reapply it often.

A typical ehite cotton t-shirt gives between a dog of 5-10 depending on density.

fine for many occasions but not enough for others

OP the number of totally unqualified people making absurd claims is only beaten by the number of gullible people believing them.
coconut oil gives an spf of 1-3
beeswax about an spf of 2-3
abd that’s if you layer a thick coating.

hey. You do you but I’m going with the biochemists and cancer specialists who recommend a properly regulated and formulated product that has undergone rigorous testing and has proven sun protection.

For my body I use Australian products. They know skin cancer. They know what works.

for my face I use Korean products unless I’m on holiday in the sun where I’ll swap to Australian.

and a full shot glass for my body and a quarter teaspoon for my face

i grew up in a skin cancer hotspot. I don’t mess around with coconut oils, beeswax or any other random ingredient.