MYRTLE BEACH -- Every summer, Americans load up on sunscreen in an effort to avoid skin wrinkling, or even worse, cancer. But every year, more questions are raised about the safety of certain ingredients used in sunscreens.
The Federal Drug Administration recently began investigating retinyl palimate, an ingredient used in about 40% of sunscreens.
But Dr. Carl Weimer of the Weimer Skin Clinic in Myrtle Beach says not to throw away your old sunscreen just yet.
"(The Vitamin A derivative retinyl palimate) is so complex. Maybe there is a bad actor, maybe there isn't. Science will tell us whether or not the fears are founded but I would not go off and get too concerned," said Weimer.
According to him, Americans have fewer choices than other countries like Europe and Japan. The US only has 17 FDA-approved sunscreens, compared to Europe's 28 and Japan's 40.
He says it's because the FDA's approval process is somewhat slow.
"For years the dermatology and scientific community has wanted the FDA to be more active in the approval of sunscreens," he said.
While the FDA is the only authority on safety warnings, dermatologists are more concerned with health risks associated with overexposure to harmful rays.
Dr. Weimer says one person is diagnosed with skin cancer every hour in the United States. Studies show that in 2010 nearly 3.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with Melanoma, or other types of skin cancer.
"You have to weigh all of these alarms which may or may not pan out with research. What's the real risk here? The real risk is millions of cases of skin cancer a year," he said.
Weimer says while retinyl palimate could eventually prove to have cancer-causing agents, not using sunscreen will put people at a much greater risk.
When shopping for sun protection, he says to always look for two key active ingredients: zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Both ingredients protect against UVA rays, which can cause skin cancer. According to the Environmental Working Group, only about 8% of products on the market contain those ingredients.
The most effective products will say "broad spectrum UVA" on the bottle. Weimer recommends Neutrogena and Blue Lizard products.
Contrary to popular belief, he says a higher SPF doesn't necessarily mean better protection.
"If you have an SPF of say, 70, and you don't get burned, you still get Ultraviolet A, like in the tanning beds, that can cause mutations in your skin cells," he said.
However, in order to protect against burning, always choose an SPF of 30 or higher.
Many dermatologist offices offer better, although more expensive, European brands.
For a list of hundreds of dermatologist-approved sunscreens and skin care products, check out the Environmental Working Group website at ewg.org/2010sunscreen.
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