Sun protection advice commonly emphasizes sunscreen use. Standard white or cream sunscreens often do not protect against visible light. Visible light penetrates deeper than ultraviolet radiation and can trigger hyperpigmentation and melasma, which appear as dark spots or brown/bluish-gray patches and occur more frequently in darker skin. Hyperpigmentation and melasma do not endanger physical health but can have substantial psychosocial and emotional effects. Tinted sunscreens contain pigment that blocks visible light. Research reviews indicate tinted sunscreens outperform non-tinted products in protecting against visible-light-related skin damage. Clinical focus on skin cancer can lead to less attention on conditions that disproportionately affect darker skin.
"Wear sunscreen" is some of the most basic health advice you can get right up there with eating fruits and vegetables. But standard sunscreen the kind that comes out of the bottle white or cream colored and disappears into the skin leaves out an important benefit, says Dr. Jenna Lester, associate professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Over the last decade or so, there's been more research into hyperpigmentation which can show up as dark spots or patches and melasma, a condition where brown or bluish-gray patches develop on the skin. These issues happen much more frequently for people with darker skin. These conditions are not solely caused by ultraviolet radiation, says Dr. Adam Friedman, Professor and Chair of Dermatology at George Washington University. Evidence shows that radiation from visible light, which penetrates the skin more deeply than UV rays.
Hyperpigmentation and melasma don't pose a danger to health, but "we can't underestimate the psychosocial emotional impact," says Friedman. But tinted sunscreens, which have pigment to match a range of skin tones, do block visible light radiation. A review of the research on tinted sunscreen published earlier this summer in the journal Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine found that tinted sunscreens outperform non-tinted products in protecting against damage from visible light.
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