The public's increased awareness of skin cancer and the necessary precautions to prevent it has placed a major emphasis on sun protection through SPF and SFA levels in skin creams and ointments. But often forgotten in facial skin protection is that of the lips. In fact, the wearing of lip glosses may actually increase the amount of ultraviolet rays that get to the lips. Since many lip glosses are clear and shiny, they may serve as a light magnifier but, at the least, they certainly provide no ultraviolet ray protection.
Since skin cancer of the lip is not rare, SPF protection of the lips seems like a good idea. While many lip balms and ointments do contain some SPF protection, it is usually 20 or less....not enough to match the SPF 30 or greater that is recommended for skin. While some lip products do contain SPF 30, they are few in number and harder to find. Darkly pigmented lip glosses or those with darker shades probably do offer some sun protection due to their density and color but their actual contribution to the amount of SPF protection is not known.
I recommend to my patients that they wear lip protection with an SPF of 30 or greater on their lips when they are outside any significant amount of time. At the least consider applying a sun protectant underneath your lip color before application. We wil probably see in the near future a wide variety of lip glosses that have good SPF levels but until then.....
Dr. Barry Eppley
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
http://www.ologyspa.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis
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