Dr Amir said we should be putting daily face SPF on preteens.

[natalieplusone]

Saw this reel on fb. What are your thoughts on this? It has never crossed my mind to give my preteen a daily spf.

www.facebook.com/share/v/183S41mDcM/?mibextid=WC7FNe

I dont have Facebook so can't see, but in terms of skin cancer the first twenty years of life are the most crucial in terms of prevention. Spf should be considered the last line of defense though, avoiding the sun at peak times and protective clothing should be the thing to prioritise alongside SPF.

I'm sure there might be some discussion around the necessity of daily SPF use year-round among dermatologists as opposed to the official standard advice of just in the sunny months.

Potentially just going by UV rating is enough in this part of the world for younger people but daily use would probably be easier to maintain as a routine, especially in the teenage years.

*UV Index rather than UV rating

If I had teens, I would without a doubt be promoting this - and I don't look at stuff on Facebook or the like.

I have very fair skinned kids and will be trying to get them to do this when they are old enough to let me!

Hmm. I'm not convinced that slapping spf on daily is a good thing. It's full of nasties (look what it does to coral...). It's the lesser of two evils when exposure to sun is inevitable but it's better to cover, avoid being outside when the sun is at its strongest and so on.

Absolutely would not be putting it on kids all year round!

Look at the high rate of Vit D deficiency in Australia and the reasons behind it.

Also look at all the chemicals in sun screen and sun block, why would you want all of them absorbed into your children's body??

As a pale Scottish 70's child who regularly got burnt I know the dangers of getting burnt in the sun so made sure my kids were protected in hotter months.

But wearing it all year round? No way!

biore spf 50
shiseido

Huh? You put it on from birth. Hope that helps.

I mean if they're putting on something anyway like a moisturiser, you may as well use an SPF instead/as well
Everyone should be taking vitamin D anyway and he's not saying plaster yourself head to toe in it but yeah, use it on your face

I had skin cancer right in the middle of my face that required a chunk of flesh being taken out and an annoying recovery process, healing time and a scar. So yeah, why not use SPF. Wish I'd used it sooner in my life

Yeah good point. Just strange as I was a child in the 80's and 90's and we only used suncream when we went on holiday or if it was hot. If I tried to put suncream on my childs face 365 days a year she would not be happy. I know we are more educated now but it's knowing how to tell jy daughter she needs suncream on her face and of course are you supposed to reapply etc? How do I do that when she is at school?

Are they trying to sell you something?

Wasn’t there some research saying SPF causes cancer??

Skin Cancer runs in my family, so DD does and has always worn a daily SPF. I’ve got massive scarring from having carcinomas removed and would like to spare my offspring from that experience.

I’ve worn SPF 50 on my face everyday since I was a teen. I’m now 45 and without wanting to boast, have the best complexion of all my peers, with no fine lines or wrinkles yet. My teen daughter has worn it from age 13 too. It’s just common sense.

I really don't think SPF is needed in this country in the winter months, for children or adults. The UV is so low. We need vitamin D.

In the uk, no.

My sister has used high SPF sunscreen every day since she was a teenager. She has lived in Australia most of that time.

In her 40s she started to feel really tired and achy all the time and "old". After a few years of this it turned out to be severe Vitamin D deficiency.

She got that sorted and she feels like a new woman.

It would be ridiculous to wear it during the UK winter.

You're not going to get any vitamin D in winter anyway so should supplement

What @fivebyfivebuffy said. There’s only about 3 months of the year in the UK when one can get vitamin D from the sun, and those are the times one is more likely to burn. Everyone here should be taking vit D.

Even in summer you might not get enough vitamin D if you work FT - going to work then coming home so weekends are your sun exposure
My level was 9 and it took a high dose course and months of 4000IU daily to get it to 66 so if you're deficient then 1000IU won't do much either

I recently had my vitamin D levels tested and they were 60 which was in the normal range. I dont supplement.

agreed - SPF is super important and I make dd wear it whenever we go out

I guess this is posted in ‘style and beauty’ and not health.

But, from a health perspective, it seems crazy to pay money to hobble your ability to synthesis a steroid that we need (vitamin D which isn’t actually a vitamin) and then to pay more money to supplement it synthetically.

As a side issue, you have to take really quite big doses of vitamin D for quite a long time to right a deficiency.

A lot depends on natural skin tone and genetics. If you are even remotely olive skinned and live in the UK, unless you are sunbathing for hours, you really don’t need SPF.