Peter Rattenbury wrote >I believe also this salt layer over >your skin makes it more prone to burn, and also reduces the effectiveness >of the sunscreen which of course you have liberally applied to avoid skin >cancer! Sandy Kramer wrote >This brings up another topic. My daughter, who is the proud mother of a 6 >month-old baby, told me that she heard that whatever ingredient they put in >sunscreen to make it waterproof can cause/contribute to blindness!! That >someone called a manufacturer and the response was to the effect that, well >it might, but we don't want to scare anyone! Sunscreen has occasionally caused me temporary "blindness" by which I mean the need to close my eyes because of irritation caused by sunscreen running into them when wet. I've never heard of anyone becoming permanently blind through use of sunscreen. Could it be that your friend and the manufacturer are referring to this temporary irritation? Recommendations abound that young children should be protected from sun with a high UV content to prevent the possibility of skin cancer when they become adults. I've several friends who have suffered from life threatening sun induced cancers so I''m not about to stop using protection. (Over here we have relatively high levels of UV in sunlight) The need to close ones eyes because of irritation from "runny" sunscreen is something of a hazard when paddling near bigger boats. My first kayak instructor recommended a zinc based sunscreen instead of the creams because it didn't run and was an extremely effective block against UV. It comes in a variety of colours : - fluoro pink, green, yellow and white for the fashion conscious. I imagine really young kids would love it provided everyone was using it. Its a commonplace here amongst surfers and lifesavers - is that kind of cream much used in the US? Are non runny sun screen creams available? All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Aug 11 1999 - 15:17:59 PDT
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