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As summer kicks off, let's get prepared to protect our skin while enjoying sunshine of the season. Don't be clouded by stereotypes that only women need sun protection. Ultraviolet rays (UV) can cause various types of damage to skin such as sunburn, melasma, and even skin cancer. UV is gender-blind.

Ultraviolet rays can be categorised into UVA, UVB and UVC according to wavelengths. UVA is the most penetrative one, leading to red skin and sunburn. This type of UV can accelerate skin damage by UVB. It can get through to dermis and is a major cause of skin aging. UVB poses the highest carcinogenic risk and its power of inducing skin redness and sunburn is 1,000 times stronger than UVA. UVC is a UV type that can be filtered by the ozone layer.

SPF (Sun Protection Factor) is a rating scale of the degree of protection provided by sunscreen products. The SPF number of a product indicates the duration of time we can stay in the sun without suffering from sunburn. For example, if exposure to sunlight for 15 minutes would cause redness on the skin, a sunscreen product with SPF15 could enable us to stay under the sun for over 3 hours without getting sunburn (15 minutes x 15 = 225 minutes). Some suncreeen products may also have labels of PA standard that tells the levels of protection against UVA, with an ascending scale from +, ++ to +++.

Normally, sunscreen products with a SPF value between 15 and 25 are able to provide sufficient protection. Activities that involve long hours under the sun such as playing golf and hiking, would increase UV exposure rate 20 to 25 times. A sunscreen product of SPF30 or above is essential. We should apply it to our skin 30 minutes before going under the sunlight. Re-applying it at an interval of 1 to 2 hours is needed.

If your skin feels burning, peeling off or swelling after intensive sunlight exposure, you should use mineral water spray for cooling and moisturising. Women should not use whitening facial mask at the same day after exposure to sun, especially those containing fruit acid, because after too much exposure to sun, the skin would become more sensitive than usual. If you do need to use a facial mask, you are strongly advised to use a moisturising or soothing type.

Remarks: In case of any discrepancies between the Chinese and English version of this article, the Chinese version shall prevail.