To now be worried about sunscreen / skin cancer

[PaulinesPenStash]

I've always been so careful in the sun after a scare with a mole a few years ago (was fine but really shook me up) ...worn factor 50 on my face every day for over ten years. And and may - September any exposed parts get the factor 50 treatment as well

However I've started to see stuff pop up about wearing sunscreen being now linked to skin cancer

I mean fgs you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. So do I wear sunscreen or not or just stay indoors all the time

Ps I do have quite bad anxiety particularly around health so no one laugh at me please 😳

Anyone . .?

Dont stress about it op. I have health anxiety too and try wear factor 50 whenever i can. The links to cancer wearing suncream are not even established hence why the british skin foundation still advise you to wear suncream.

Thanks @GeePipe

I really hate all this scaremongering about everything. you never know what's real and what isn't 😞

I know ive slowly learned to ignore it. Unless its officially recognised and warned about then i dont listen.

Wear it if you need it to prevent burning. Don't wear it as routine when you dont need it.

I wear it on my face and neck to attempt to reduce the ageing effects though

And I run so I wear it when running as well 😩

None in my family wears sunscreen anymore. Neither my 55 year old dad nor my 2 year old boy. It is linked to skin cancer. I am awfully allergic to 99% of suncreams! It used to give me a terrible rash. However - continue reading!! If we dont wear shop bought suncream doenst mean we cant wear healthy alternatives : i..e good old coconut oil or rasperry seed oil has a good level of SPF protection, it doesnt fullfill your body/skin/blood with poisonous chemicals and it makes your skin lovely, moisturised and protected. We are white europeans and believe me, my dad never wore conventional suncream and he is literally in sun all day everyday - he is proper tanned but never had any skin concerns. The same goes for me. So, my suggestion is read the label and if there are more than 3 ingredients in there that you couldnt eat then DO NOT PUT IT ON YOUR SKIN - ir goes straight to your blood through skin. Google natural sunscreen :)

My understanding is that no matter what posters write, there is nothing that will placate OP's health anxiety. Even worse, anything we say in response to OP's direct questions just feeds the beast and makes it stronger (beast=the HA).

I do quite like this.

You can’t win really, I avoid sun cream where reasonably possible.

You have the vitamin D situation to think of too.

I don’t use it or put it on my kids.

@lljkk I might have health anxiety but if sunscreen is indeed a risk then I want to know !

I use sun screen when I need to and wash it off when I get home.

I like a bit of tan, even though I know it's bad.

Bacon apparently is as carcinogenic as fags. I still eat bacon.

I believe that what triggers cancer in some people doesnt in others. I know a boy who had cancer after being kicked in the shins during a football match. What my trigger is may not be yours.

People who don’t use it on your kids - how do you stop them burning when they’re out most of the day? My 11 year old was at a sports thing on Friday with the school and didn’t put enough sun cream on his neck so went a bit red. How do you prevent that if you don’t use suncream? I know it’s best to stay out of the sun but sometimes that just isn’t possible.

But surely on balance unprotected skin is more at risk from the giant radiation ball in the sky sun, compared to the relatively smaller risk of chemicals in sunscreen?

A sensible middle ground to me seems to be a high factor sunscreen when necessary and as suggested upthread, washed off when no longer required. I like Starzig advice.

Just wouldn't coconut oil be like turning yourself into a human french fry, literally frying in the sun?

Right OK, scientist here. Mineral sunscreens do NOT cause cancer. The suncare actives industry is highly regulated. These products go through huge amounts of testing before being launched commercially. Mineral sunscreens work by sitting on the surface of the skin, they do not get absorbed into the skin.

Mineral sunscreens are made by taking coated TiO2 or ZnO powder, mixing with a natural oil or water and then grinding down. Other ingredients are added to improve how the products sit on the skin. There is a huge drive in the industry to use natural ingredients.

Please ignore the uneducated posts above, scaremongering. There is zero evidence that mineral sunscreens cause skin cancer but there is a wealth of evidence they they prevent skin cancer.

Wear the sunscreen. The sun is a proven link to skin cancer. Speculation about sunscreen is largely that.
Please try not to worry. If nothing else, you’ll look younger than sun worshippers!

We have discovered MooGoo (recommended on MN) it is the only suncream my DS has ever been able to wear without coming up in a dreadful rash. He has not routinely worn suncream due to his eczema and has learned to stay in the shade wherever possible. Obviously the danger of bad sunburn is a worry but he's not burned yet, just stays out of the midday heat and only has short exposure to the sun.

Kitsandkids - my autistic child basically wont wear sun screen. he will wear a hat, a uv rash vest and sunglasses and he sits in the shade. He has never burned and has the palest of tans on his arms.

My other son wears sunscreen and has burned twice due to not reapplying properly during swimming.

moogooskincare.co.uk/sun-safety/natural-sunscreen-spf30.html
If you're interested

Could someone post me the link that is worrying them about suncream? I have never heard these fears before, and so would really like to read for myself as I'm someone who doesn't burn but recently got into a routine of putting on suncream as I thought it was good for me! I'm confused now

We need sun and we need protection so it's about balance and moderation
Where what is right for your skin
My kids have olive skin, they use a lower SPF than me if they need to wear sun screen
I use a lower sun screen on arms and legs than on my face
I also use products with less chemicals in as I do get rashes from sun screen use, I've used one from Lush recently which was good
I don't want to burn and I do want my quota of vit D (which is a hormone not a vitamin)
So consider what your skin needs? Does it need SPF 50, if yes carry on, if not consider scaling back?

Three cheers for FlyingSpaghettiM0nster and the scientific method! Honourable mentions to HollaHolla and lljkk.

Of course you and yours should wear sunscreen. That said, avoid the midday sun however much cream you've slathered on.