Why You Should Always, Always Check Your Sunscreen's Expiration Date

Picture me, age 14: Blond, blue-eyed and pasty-pale. It was a scorching hot weekend in June, and I was on a three-day camping trip with my dad. As two fair-skinned, freckle-faced Caucasians, we diligently applied sunscreen — SPF 45 — each morning before emerging from our tent, and every couple of hours thereafter. Coppertone would have been proud. Sunday evening on the way home, though, I felt red and hot. I could see the signs of sunburn emerging, and I felt tired and dizzy from too much time in the sun. When I awoke on Monday morning, my shoulders and upper back were covered in second-degree burns, oozing, pussy blisters screaming across my skin. Getting dressed was a non-starter — even the lightest, gentlest fabrics felt like daggers on my shoulders. I was a mess. The problem? Our sunscreen was more than a year expired. As sunscreen ages, its sun-protection ingredients degrade, reducing its effectiveness. Keeping a fresh bottle on hand, and using it every time you’re out in the sun, will keep you from getting sunburned — which can cause your skin to become dry, discolored, wrinkled and prone to bruising over time — and also help prevent skin cancer, the most common cancer of all.  Thanks to that painfully unforgettable experience, I’ve become relentless in my sunscreen advocacy crusade. You won’t find me preaching about wearing a high SPF — any broad-spectrum sunblock over SPF 15 will do — but you ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news