Your Sunscreen Might Be Poisoning You

By Arthur W. Perry, MD, FACS Dr. Perry is a board certified plastic surgeon, an Adjunct
Associate Professor at Columbia University, and a member of the Medical Advisory Board for
The Dr. Oz Show.

Posted on 5/07/2013 | By Arthur Perry, MD, FACS | Comments (39)

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Sunscreens have been around for nearly 100 years. The goal was to block ultraviolet (UV)
light, the harmful rays of the sun. Sunscreens started out with pasty zinc oxide that no one
would use. So scientists created sunscreens with clear chemicals that absorbed UV light. In
1944, Coppertone became the first mass marketed sunscreen. Fast forward to now, when
about a billion dollars worth of sunscreen are sold each year in the United States.

UV light causes skin cancer and prematurely ages the skin, and so its very important to
protect our skin with sunscreen. We dont want to block sunshine completely about 20
minutes each day is good for us it boosts our vitamin D and improves our mood. Beyond 20
minutes, however, and our immune system suffers. We either need to spend the rest of the day
inside or protect our skin with sunscreen.
There are 17 individual sunscreen ingredients that are FDA approved: 15 of these are clear
chemicals that absorb UV light and two are made of minerals that reflect UV light. Of these
15, nine are known endocrine disruptors. To be effective, chemical sunscreens need to be
rubbed into their skin 20 minutes before sun exposure. They do a pretty good job at blocking
UV light, but they actually get used up as the sun shines on them. In fact, some sunscreens
lose as much as 90% of their effectiveness in just an hour, so they need to be reapplied often.
This is not the case with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, the two mineral, or physical,
sunscreens. These two work very differently they sit on the surface of the skin and
physically block UV light.

Chemical sunscreens dont sit on the surface of the skin they soak into it and quickly find
their way into the bloodstream. They scatter all over the body without being detoxified by the
liver and can be detected in blood, urine, and breast milk for up to two days after a single
application. That would be just fine if they were uniformly safe but theyre not.

As I mentioned, nine of the 15 chemical sunscreens are considered endocrine disruptors.

Those are chemicals that interfere with the normal function of hormones. The hormones most
commonly disturbed are estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroid. Endocrine
disruptors, like some ingredients in chemical sunscreens, can cause abnormal development of
fetuses and growing children. They cause early puberty and premature breast development in
girls, and small and undescended testicles in boys. They cause low sperm counts and
infertility. Endocrine disruptors that act like estrogen can contribute to the development of
breast and ovarian cancers in women, and other endocrine disruptors may increase the chance
of prostate cancer in men.

Sounds pretty unsettling, doesnt it? But theres more. As I said earlier, chemical sunscreens
function by absorbing UV light. In the process, some may get used up and mutate. Some
generate DNA-damaging chemicals called free radicals. These may lead to cancers.

Im pretty negative about chemical sunscreens, and while I do have to tell you that I believe
they are not proven to cause cancer, as I said on The Dr. Oz Show, Where theres smoke,
theres fire.

By Arthur W. Perry, MD, FACS Dr. Perry is a board certified plastic surgeon, an Adjunct
Associate Professor at Columbia University, and a member of the Medical Advisory Board for
The Dr. Oz Show.

Posted on 5/07/2013 | By Arthur Perry, MD, FACS | Comments (39)

199
Print

Poisoning that takes place over decades is difficult to study. Chemicals like arsenic and
botulism make us sick very quickly, and so it was easy to figure out that they are toxins. Lead
is a toxin that takes longer to cause illness, so it was many years before the government
listened to scientists and restricted its use. And chemical sunscreens are even harder to study
since their effects are subtle and take a long time to appear.

As you read this, you might be saying, Why is this guy a plastic surgeon saying
something Ive never heard about before? This information isnt new for me. My patients
know Ive been talking about sunscreen and other cosmetic toxicity for about 15 years. But
Im just an interpreter of science. And experts agree with me.

R. Thomas Zoeller, MS, PhD, is a Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts.

Hes an author of the Endocrine Societys scientific statement about endocrine disrupting
chemicals and their official representative. He said, Dr. Perry makes an important point that
sunscreens are applied to skin in a formulation that serves as a drug delivery system and that
some sunscreens are known to interfere with hormone action. The way in which these
chemicals can interact with hormone systems could plausibly increase the risk of various
cancers as well as other endocrine disorders.

If there were no good alternatives, wed be in a pickle wed have to make some hard
decisions whether or not to use sunscreen. But, fortunately, we have great alternatives.

Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are rocks that are ground down to a fine consistency. They do
a great job at blocking both UVA and UVB light. Zinc is less whitening on the skin and blocks
nearly all dangerous UV light. Inexpensive versions of these sunscreens are gooey and while
you might put them on your kids skin, most people dont like them. But newer zinc oxide
sunscreens contain particles so small that they are transparent. These sunscreens are called
micronized and do a great job at protecting against UV radiation. Even newer sunscreens use
rocks that are ground into smaller bits called nanoparticles. Nanoparticles have their own
issues, and some people dont consider them to be uniformly safe.

Some people may call me self-serving because I have my own skin care company and I
produce a SPF 20 sunscreen with micronized zinc oxide. But I created this product because of
my attitude toward sunscreens. I really do feel that people are poisoning themselves by
putting ounce-quantities of chemical sunscreens on their bodies, and I cringe when I see
women, particularly pregnant or breastfeeding women, and small children slathering that stuff
on their skin.

Bottom line? Use a micronized zinc oxide containing SPF 15 broad-spectrum sunscreen every
day of the year and an SPF 30 when youre on the beach or working in the garden. How much
should you use? An ounce spread over your whole body should do it. And reapply it every 2
hours or so. For more information, Ive posted scientific references on the toxicity of
sunscreens and cosmetics on PerryPlasticSurgery.com.