Sun damaged skin seems to be proof that none of us ever learn.
We all know better than to get sunburned.
How many of us can say we never did? For that matter, how many of us have spent many hours in the sun, getting a deep tan, for every summer of our lives? And if you're from anywhere near the tropics, maybe all year round? Millions of us are customers of tanning salons, for another obvious example.
Now please don't take me wrong.
I'm not against fresh air and sunshine.
Some sunshine is very good for you, and I never use a sunscreen lotion unless I'm going to be out in the sun for longer than 20 minutes or so.
Dermatologists will hate me for this.
They react with horror at the idea of any time in the sun without slathering on sunscreen first.
But how can we believe that humans are unable to handle sunshine, when we spent hundreds of thousands of years living outside in the sun? I'm no expert, but plenty of experts agree with me.
Dr.
Michael Holick, who wrote The UV Advantage, believes exposing a quarter of our skin (that is a quarter of our entire body) to sunlight regularly for at least a few few minutes, depending on our skin type and the intensity of the sunshine, is "good medicine" both for making Vitamin D for our health, and for our personal happiness as well! That's because many millions of us don't get enough sunshine to make Vitamin D, and depression appears to be one of the common results! The Vitamin D Council, a nonprofit organization with many prestigious doctors and researchers on its advisory council, points out that a lack of Vitamin D is related not just to depression, but to death from cancers of several types, and may explain why we're so susceptible to the flu in winter, rather than any other time of year.
Yet many of us, perhaps most of us, don't get enough! I think we've been listening to too many dermatologists.
But all these authorities believe that sunburn is very damaging for us all.
In fact, the Vitamin D Council suggests that sitting in an office most of our lives, getting nearly no sun, and then spending two weeks of vacation getting burned is the most dangerous sunshine exposure of all: it seems to leave us vulnerable to melanoma, by far the most dangerous skin cancer.
Sorry about the lecture! I'm getting carried away a bit.
I'm just saying, I spend some time in the sun often, and I'm sure it's good for me.
So I'm not being holier-than-thou.
I'm just saying, I'm real careful these days not to get burned.
But what if you do? Or what if your skin is already damaged from years of too much sun? Well, here are the best skin care treatments I know for sun damaged skin: -- For sunburn, D-Panthenol (Vitamin B5) is a wonderful emollient (skin soother) and moisturizer.
It helps repair skin tissue, protects the skin naturally against sunburn, relieves existing sunburn, and enhances the natural tanning process.
-- Antioxidants, like natural Vitamin E, Vitamin A, and the antioxidant effects of a kelp-based extract called Phytessence Wakame, all are helpful both for preventing and soothing the damage of sunburn, as well as for moisturizing and anti-aging affects on the skin.
-- For the liver spots or age spots that can result from too much intense sun, there's a natural skin-lightening ingredient called Extrapone Nutgrass Root.
It not only lightens the dark age spots -- freckles, too -- it nourishes the skin so well it's a wonderful day cream for anyone.
The pigment in our skin that gives it color is melanin.
Applied on age spots, freckles, or anywhere that skin lightening desired, Extrapone Nutgrass has proven in clinical trials to reduce melanin production by more than 40 percent.
And it does this while soothing and nourishing the skin, not irritating it as nearly every skin lightener does.
Check my website for more about treating sun damaged skin