[Announcer]
San Diego 6 News in the Morning… your station for balanced news.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Thank you so much, Renee.
Well, Spring Break is just around the corner and many of us, including me, are planning a little R&R under the sun. You may be bikini-ready, but don’t forget the skin you’re in.
Here to talk about protection is dermatologist Doctor Douglas Keel… thank you so much for being here.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Thank you.
[Anita Lightfoot]
We were talking a little bit about the sun and damage, and you know what? Melanoma is a reality whether it’s in the sun on the beach or in a tanning booth.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
It is. It’s increasing, actually, and a lot of the reasons are because of too much sun exposure and improper protection. And the tanning industry, you know, of course, is, are proponents of this nice tan before you go out in the sun, to prevent burning.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Yeah, they call it the base tan, or I call it the base tan.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
The base tan, but that, again, any tan, any type of tan is sun damage and that is actually damaging the skin. Maybe not causing skin cancer, maybe causing skin cancer, but it’s also damaging the collagen down in the skin, which makes the skin unhealthy and wrinkled.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Yeah, and we don’t want that.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
No.
[Anita Lightfoot]
'Cause that’s not any fun at all. So, SPF an absolute, you have to have some kind of sunscreen with SPF whether you’re young or whether you’re old, you have to have it your whole lifetime.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Well, it’s important to have it your whole lifetime; if you’re younger and you start early, you can protect the skin longer. Some people say that you get most of the sun before you’re 18, but here in San Diego we have sun all year long. So, I mean, you’re going to get sun all throughout your life. It is important to start early, but continue on into your adult years.
[Anita Lightfoot]
And what are you… what are the things you need to make sure that you have in your sunscreen before you apply?
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
The first thing is… the most… the easiest thing to use is the moisturizer with sunscreen, and this should be used every single day. And there a few great products, in fact a lot of great products that are coming out. I’ve brought a few in today to kind of just…
[Anita Lightfoot]
give an idea…
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Touch base on a few of these. This is the Olay® product, and this is the Pro-X formula. This is actually a very new product from Olay and it is a fantastic product. It kind of went head to head against some of the prescription products that dermatologists will prescribe…
[Anita Lightfoot]
Oh, very nice.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
And they did very well with this. It has a SPF 30, and you can buy it over the counter in drugstores, so it’s really nice.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Oh, very affordable. Which leads to another question… SPF 30… should you look for SPF 60 and feel better about that?
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Well, the higher the SPF, it is better. But, up at an SPF… of 30, you’re blocking 97 percent of the sun’s UV rays, which is great. And if you reapply that every couple hours, you’re gonna have complete protection from the sun.
[Anita Lightfoot]
OK. That’s a good rule of thumb to know, because I know a lot of people are buying the higher, you know, levels, thinking it’s more protection, but really we’re talking minutiae.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Right. And eventually, you know, anything above 50… you’re not going to see any increase in the sun-proof protection.
[Anita Lightfoot]
All right, and what else do we have?
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
This is a DDF Protect… this is called Protect and Correct. And essentially what it does is it’s another sunscreen, it’s an SPF 15, but it has some microspheres that kind of help to reflect the sun, and it also will help to tint the skin a little bit. So if there’s specific dark spots on the skin, it’ll help to kind of hide those.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Oh, very nice.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
It’ll help fade them over, over time as well.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Oh, that’s nice to know.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
This is actually, this is available in our office, and it’s the Neocutis product, and it has growth factors which can help stimulate collagen production in the skin. Doesn’t have sunscreen, but this is more of a, a product that you can use to help repair some of the damage that has been done over years, and it will help wrinkling and fine lines. It can be spot-treated around the mouth, around the crow’s feet around the eyes, so it’s a very nice product.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Oh, good.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
And then there are other specific products that are for, you know, skin conditions. If you have an underlying skin condition like rosacea, you want a sunscreen that is gonna be specific for that condition. And the Rosaclear is very good for that. It can help to, again, hide a little bit of the redness in the skin, and also protect the skin.
[Anita Lightfoot]
And what is this last one?
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Don’t forget about men.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Yeah…
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Men have kind of been neglected with the skincare products, and this is a, there are some great products that are coming out for men, specifically for men’s skin. So, again, I think it’s important to use a moisturizer with sunscreen every day, and something specific for your skin. The biggest thing is if you have questions, you can come in and see a dermatologist so we can, like, direct you.
[Anita Lightfoot]
Make sure you have a dermatologist, especially living here in San Diego. Well thank you so much, I hope you have a great sunny Spring Break.
[Dr. Douglas Keel]
Thank you.
[Anita Lightfoot]
All right, thank you so much, Doctor Douglas Keel, and if you’d like more information, you can go to SanDiego6.com and click on the Hot Topics. Don’t forget your sunscreen.