Sunscreen with vitamin A

The impact of the sun on our skin has more negative effects than positive ones. Harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun are not good for our skin and that is why there are a lot of sunscreens with UV protection. Sometimes it is recommended to use the sunscreens with vitamin A, since it helps the skin become healthier. People are often recommended to apply sunscreen to the skin before going out and exposing their skin to the sunlight. If you are going out in the sun, you should apply some sunscreen to your face and body, particularly in summer time, because a lot of people suffer from the sunburn or some other skin problem caused by the harmful UV rays of the sun.

Negative Benefits of Vitamin A

Almost every sunscreen has the vitamin A in it, which is good for getting rid of acne and minimizing the appearance of wrinkles. One of the most important nutrients for healthy skin is actually vitamin A, and various topical products contain it as one of their essential ingredient, too. However, there are also some studies conducted by FDA, which have shown that the vitamin A in the sunscreen is the major reason for development of skin cancer. Vitamin A is actually in the form of retinyl palmitate when added to the sunscreen, and almost 40% of sunscreen lotions contain it. It is said that retinyl palmitate reduces the process of aging of the skin, but on the contrary, due to this vitamin A compound, a person is prone to have skin tumors. There were some animal studies conducted to see if the lotion that contained about 0.5% of retinyl palmitate had any negative effects on mice. After one year of observation on the mice, the results were really concerning. Actually, around 20% of mice that were exposed to the cream containing retinyl palmitate started to show symptoms of skin tumors, while the mice that were not exposed to retinyl palmitate were doing just fine. However, this experiment was done on the animals and the amount of sunscreen was large, so it shouldn`t be taken for granted. Moreover, it is a real dilemma if the sunscreen containing vitamin A is good for skin of humans or not.

There is also one more side effect of the vitamin A in the sunscreens. When vitamin A is added to the sunscreen, it metabolizes into free radicals which cause aging of the skin and also damage of the cells. Some studies have shown that this is why it is not recommended to expose your skin covered with sunscreen containing vitamin A to the sun.

Recommended Sunscreens

You should always apply some sunscreen when going out in the sun, as the harmful UV rays of the sun can damage your skin. Maybe you can try using those sunscreens that contain zinc oxide or titanium oxide instead of those with vitamin A. Over 60% of the sunscreens that are available in America do not contain vitamin A, and you just need to read it on the label when buying one.