Hook & Tackle Sun Protection Glossary April 15, 2015

Hook & Tackle strongly advocates that you increase your knowledge base with respects to the dangers of overexposure to the sun's harmful UV rays. We have assembled a comprehensive glossary of sun protection terms to facilitate your understanding of this most important life-saving issue.

A-Avoid unprotected exposure at any time and seek shade.

W-Wear sun protective clothing including a hat with a three inch brim and sunglasses. Check out Hook & Tackle's Sun Protection Collection.

A- Apply broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF 30+ and reapply every two hours while exposed.

R-Routinely check your skin and report any suspicious changes to a health care provider.

E-Educate your family and community about the need for sun protection.

• Avobenzone: trade names Parsol 1789, Eusolex 9020, Escalol 517 and others): An oil soluble ingredient used in sunscreen products to absorb the full spectrum of UVA.
• Basel cell carcinoma (BCC): The most common type of skin cancer. It rarely metastasizes or kills, but it is still considered malignant because it can cause significant destruction and disfigurement by invading surrounding tissues.
• Bronzing: Also called tanning, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays has detrimental health effects, including possible burn and even skin cancer.
• Carcinogen: Any substance, radionuclide or radiation that is an agent directly involved in the exacerbation of cancer or in the increase of its propagation. Higher-energy radiation, including ultraviolet radiation (present in sunlight), generally is carcinogenic, if received in sufficient doses.
• Cataracts: Cataracts are a form of eye damage in which a loss of transparency in the lens of the eye clouds vision. If left untreated, cataracts can lead to blindness. Research has shown that UV radiation increases the likelihood of certain cataracts. Although curable with modern eye surgery, cataracts diminish the eyesight of millions of Americans and cost billions of dollars in medical care each year.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): A federal agency that works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through partnerships with state health departments and other organizations. The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease prevention and control (especially infectious diseases), environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, prevention and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the U.S.
• Cipro: Ciprofloxacin INN: A drug used to treat bacterial infections. It is a second generation fluoroquinolone. It kills bacteria by interfering with the enzymes that cause DNA to rewind after being copied, which stops DNA and protein synthesis.
• Collagen: The main protein of connective tissue in and the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content.
• Dermis: A layer of skin between the epidermis and subcutaneous tissues, and is composed of two layers, the papillary and reticular dermis.
• Diuretics: Any drug that elevates the rate of urination and thus provides a means of forced diuresis.
• Don’t Fry Day: The National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention has designated the Friday before Memorial Day as Don't Fry Day. The Council's goal is to encourage sun safety awareness by reminding everyone to protect their skin while enjoying the outdoors on Don't Fry Day and every day.
• Dysplastic Nevi: Atypical moles; moles whose appearance is different from that of common moles. Dysplastic nevi are generally larger than ordinary moles and have irregular and indistinct borders. Often their color is not uniform, and ranges from pink to dark brown; they usually are flat, but parts may be raised above the skin surface. Doctors believe that dysplastic nevi are more likely than ordinary moles to develop into a type of skin cancer called melanoma.
• Elastin: A protein in connective tissue that is elastic and allows many tissues in the body to resume their shape after stretching or contracting. Elastin helps skin to return to its original position when it is poked or pinched.
• Elavil: A psychoactive drug and pharmaceutical of the tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) chemical class which is used primarily as an antidepressant and anxiolytic
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The EPA is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged to protect human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.
• Epidermis: The outer layer of the skin composed of terminally differentiated stratified squamous epithelium, acting as the body's major barrier against an inhospitable environment.
• Erythema: Redness of the skin, caused by congestion of the capillaries in the lower layers of the skin. It occurs with any skin injury, infection, or inflammation.
• Eye Protection Factor (EPF): a scientifically applied solar rating designed to help people compare the efficiency of sunglasses in protecting the eyes from the harmful effects of radiation. EPF is to non-prescription sunglasses what the Sun Protection Factor (SPF) is to sunscreen. The EPF rating is based on frame coverage, ultra-violet (UV) protection, blue light protection and infrared protection, or the ability to shield the eyes from heat. The final EPF rating is a result of averaging the scores of these four factors known by the acronym FUBI.
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC): An independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act. Its principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of what regulators perceive to be harmfully "anti-competitive" business practices, such as coercive monopoly.
• Flap Hat: Flap hats offer excellent sun protection as the bill shields your face and eyes, and the extended tail protects your ears and neck. Hook & Tackle's Fisherman's Hat rated at UPF 50+ (the highest rating possible) with its wide brim offers top-notch UV sun protection.
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA): The Food and Drug Administration is a Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, tobacco products, dietary supplements, Medication drugs, vaccines, Bio-pharmaceutical, blood transfusion, medical devices, Electromagnetic radiation emitting devices, veterinary products, and cosmetics.
• Keratoses: An actinic keratosis is a skin lesion that appears as a rough, scaly patch on your face, lips, ears, back of your hands, forearms, scalp and neck. The cause is frequent or intense exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays, typically from the sun.
• Lasix: It helps you make more urine and to lose salt and excess water from your body. This medicine is used to treat high blood pressure, and edema or swelling from heart, kidney, or liver disease.
• Light Boxes: Used as a cure for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), light boxes are portable, visible light sources which provide up to 10,000 lux of illumination -- 10 to 25 times as bright as ordinary lighting and equivalent to outdoor light about forty minutes after sunrise. Most patients use light boxes early in the morning, for 15 to 60 minutes.
• Lip cancer: The skin on your lips is very thin and is more prone to sun damage compared to the skin in the rest of your body. Especially common is squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common type of skin cancer. It's even more likely to occur on your lower lip -- where you get more sun exposure.
• Lupus: A chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.
• Lupus Foundation of America (LFA): The largest national non-profit voluntary health organization dedicated to finding the causes of and cure for lupus and providing support, services and hope to all people affected by lupus.
• Macular Degeneration: A medical condition which usually affects older adults that result in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) because of damage to the retina.
• Melanin: A class of compounds found in plants, animals, and protists, where it serves predominantly as a pigment.
• Melanoma: A malignant tumor of melanocytes which are found predominantly in skin. It is one of the less common types of skin cancerbut causes the majority (75%) of skin cancer related death.
• Melanoma International Foundation: The mission of the Melanoma International Foundation is to ease the burden and bring hope to the journey of melanoma through patient support, early detection education and advocacy. It provides hope and guidance to melanoma patients and families by empowering them with correct up-to-date information. Its funding goes directly to free screenings to find melanoma early, patient navigation services and unique education programs for all ages.
• Melanoma Monday: The American Academy of Dermatology has designated the 1^st Monday in May to commemorate Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month.
• Micronized Zinc: A mineral that provides broad-spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays. It is also said to have anti-inflammatory properties and is considered the safest and most protective sunscreening ingredient. While non micronized zinc oxide leaves a strong residue on the skin, like white paint, micronized zinc oxide creates the same barrier in a form that appears far more transparent and less whitening when rubbed in.
• MOHS Surgery: Mohs micrographic surgery has the highest cure rate for basal cell and squamous cell cancer.
• National Cancer Institute (NCI): A part of the Federal government's National Institutes of Health. The NCI is a federally funded research and development center whose primary responsibility is to carry out the national effort against cancer.
• National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention: A united voice to reduce skin cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, through awareness, prevention, early detection, research, and advocacy.
• OSHA: The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Its mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and occupational fatality by issuing and enforcing rules called standards for workplace safety and health.
• Outdoor worker: An individual that works outdoors. Outdoor workers regularly exposed to the sun for long periods of time have a higher risk for developing skin cancer.
• Parsol 1789: Avobenzone (trade names Parsol 1789, Eusolex 9020, Escalol 517 and others, INCI Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane) is an oil soluble ingredient used in sunscreen products to absorb the full spectrum of UVA
• Photosensitivity: Sensitivity of the skin to a light source can take various forms. People with particular skin types are more sensitive to sunburn. Particular medications make the skin more sensitive to sunlight; these include most of the tetracycline antibiotics, heart drugs amiodarone, and sulfonamides.
• Rash Guards: Also known as Swim Shirt is a type of athletic shirt made of spandex and nylon or polyester. Rash guards are used for light coverage in warm to extreme summer temperatures for several water sports including surfing, scuba diving, snorkeling, wakeboarding, body surfing, body boarding, windsurfing, and kayaking. People who are uncomfortable without a shirt will sometimes wear rash guards while swimming.
• Retinoids: A class of chemical compounds that are related chemically to vitamin A.
• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): A depression during the Winter season which is believed to affect approximately 15 million Americans. Tanning salons tout their services as a treatment for SAD, though the ultraviolet radiation (UVR) they produce is not a component of light therapy, the most effective treatment.
• Shade: The blocking of sunlight (in particular direct sunshine) by any object, and also the shadow created by that object.
• Skin Cancer: A malignant growth on the skin which can have many causes. The most common skin cancers are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma. Skin cancer generally develops in the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin), so a tumor is usually clearly visible. This makes most skin cancers detectable in the early stages.
• Skin Cancer Foundation: The Skin Cancer Foundation has set the standard for educating the public and the medical profession about skin cancer, its prevention by means of sun protection, and the need for early detection and prompt, effective treatment. It is the only international organization devoted solely to combating the world's most common cancer, now occurring at epidemic levels. More than a million new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. every year. The Foundation's mission is to decrease the incidence of the disease by means of public and professional education, medical training, and research.
• Skin Cancer Screenings: Skin cancer screening involves a 2- to 3-minute visual inspection of the patient's entire body (total cutaneous examination or TCE), including the scalp, hands, and feet. Inclusion of questions regarding sun exposure, sun protection, and family history of melanoma in the clinical history, as well as educating at-risk patients on signs, symptoms, and prevention of skin malignancy, is often included in TCE.
• Skin cancer surveillance: Skin doctors promote regular self examination of skin because research shows that self-skin exam can lead to early detection of skin cancer.
• Skin Type: Individuals with ancestors from different parts of the world can have highly visible differences in skin pigmentation. Individuals with sub-Saharan African ancestry black people tend towards darker skin, while those of Northern European descent white people have paler skin. Between these extremes are individuals of Asian,South-East Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, Polynesian and Melanesian Darker skin hinders UVA rays from penetrating.
• Solar Radiation: A general term for the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun.
• Solar ultraviolet radiation (solar UVR): The UV region covers the wavelength range 100-400 nm and is divided into three bands: UVA (315-400 nm), UVB (280-315 nm) and UVC (100-280 nm). As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, all UVC and approximately 90% of UVB radiation is absorbed by ozone, water vapor, oxygen and carbon dioxide. UVA radiation is less affected by the atmosphere. Therefore, the UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is largely composed of UVA with a small UVB component.
• Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC): A form of cancer of the carcinoma type that may occur in many different organs, including the skin, lips, mouth, esophagus, urinary bladder, prostate,lungs, vagina, and cervix. It is a malignant tumor of squamous epithelium that shows squamous cell differentiation).
• Stratospheric ozone depletion: Describes two distinct, but related observations: a slow, steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere (ozone layer) since the late 1970s, and a much larger, but seasonal, decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions during the same period. The latter phenomenon is commonly referred to as the ozone hole. Since the ozone layer prevents most harmful UVB wavelengths (270–315 nm) of ultraviolet light (UV light) from passing through the observed and projected decreases in ozone have generated worldwide concern. It is suspected that a variety of biological consequences such as increases in skin cancer and cataracts may result from the increased UV exposure due to ozone depletion.
• Sun bathing: The act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color.
• Sunblock: Also commonly known as sunscreen or sun cream is a lotion, spray, gel or other topical product that absorbs or reflects some of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the skin exposed to sunlight and thus helps protect against sunburn.
• Sunblock clothing: Clothing specifically designed for sun protection and is produced from a fabric rated for its level of ultraviolet (UV) protection. A novel weave structure and denier (related to thread count per inch) may produce sun protective properties. Hook & Tackle's patented Quayside Shirt rated at UPF 50+ (the highest rating possible) offers top-quality UV sun protection in this one-of-a-kind ventilated shirt.
• Sunburn: A burn to living tissue such as skin produced by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, commonly from the sun's rays. Usual mild symptoms in humans and animals include red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch, general fatigue, and mild dizziness. An excess of UV-radiation can be life-threatening in extreme cases.
• Sunglasses: A form of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the eye pupil in order to prevent strong light, ultraviolet (UV) rays, and increasingly, blue light ("blue blocking") from penetrating.
• Sun Hats: A hat which shades the face and shoulders from the sun. The sun can burn your head and shoulders so you can use the sun hat to protect your head and shoulders from harmful ultraviolet rays. Sun hats are common in places around the world, mainly in holiday resorts residing in countries close to the earth’s equator. Sun hats can range from small to large brims. Sun hats can be also certified to a seal that is physician endorsed and the brim is usually 4 to 7 inches and shades the face and shoulders and neck. Hook & Tackle's patented Mangrove Hat rated at UPF 50+ (the highest rating possible) with its wide brim and rear hidden tail offers top-notch UV sun protection.
• SunPROTECT™: A program created by Hook & Tackle's® Sun Protective Clothing aimed at educating the community about the dangers of overexposure to the sun and tactics for preventing excessive sun exposure.
• Sun Protection Clothing: Clothes can protect your skin against the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. The tightness of the weave, the weight, type of fiber, color and amount of skin covered all affect the amount of protection they provide.
• Sun Protective Clothing: Clothing specifically designed for sun protection and is produced from a fabric rated for its level of ultraviolet (UV) protection. A unique weave structure and denier (related to thread count per inch) may produce sun protective properties. In addition, some textiles and fabrics employed in the use of sun protective clothing may be pre-treated with UV inhibiting ingredients during manufacture to enhance their UV blocking capacity.

• Sun exposure: Also called Sunburn. Ultraviolet (UV) rays are an invisible form of radiation. They can penetrate your skin and damage your skin cells. Sunburns are a sign of skin damage. Suntans aren't healthy, either. They appear after the sun's rays have already killed some cells and damaged others. UV rays can cause skin damage during any season or at any temperature. They can also cause eye problems, wrinkles, skin spots, and skin cancer.
• Sun protection: Use sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher, and both UVA and UVB clothing to protect exposed skin. Wear a hat with a wide brim to shade the face, head, ears, and neck. Wear sunglasses that wrap around and block as close to 100% of both UVA and UVB rays as possible. Seek shade, especially during midday hours.
• Sun protection factor (SPF): The amount of UV radiation required to cause sunburn on skin with the sunscreen on, relative to the amount required without the sunscreen. So, wearing a sunscreen with SPF 50, your skin will not burn until it has been exposed to 50 times the amount of solar energy that would normally cause it to burn.
• Sun protective clothing: A hat with a wide brim offers good sun protection for your eyes, ears, face, and the back or your neck. Sunglasses that provide 99 to 100 percent UVA and UVB protection will greatly reduce eye damage from sun exposure. Tightly woven, loose fitting clothes will provide additional protection from the sun.
• Sun protective hat: A hat which shades the face and shoulders from the sun. The sun can burn your head and shoulders so you can use the sun hat to protect your head and shoulders from harmful ultraviolet rays. Sun hats are common in places around the world, mainly in holiday resorts residing in countries close to the earth’s equator. Sun hats can range from small to large brims. Sun hats can be also certified to a seal that is physician endorsed and the brim is usually 4 to 7 inches and shades the face and shoulders and neck.
• Sun Safety: A program of sun safety education to prevent skin cancer. This program includes influencing participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior while outdoors; measures to promote or require use of protective items such clothing, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, and lip balm during all outdoor activities; an assessment of the amount of shade and a plan to increase this amount of shade if needed, as well as an assessment of the practicality of rescheduling outdoor activities that take place during the hours of peak sun intensity; education and encouragement to adopt and model sun-safe behaviors, especially participants who spend significant amounts of their day in the sun; strategies to involve the community in supporting the program; and an evaluation of ongoing policy development, program implementation, and program outcomes.
• Sunscreens: Also commonly known as sunblock or sun cream is a lotion, spray, gel or other topical product that absorbs or reflects some of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the skin exposed to sunlight and thus helps protect against sunburn.

• Sunscreen clothing: With recent news about the inadequacy of many sunscreens—the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found that four out of five name brand sunscreens offer inadequate protection from the sun or contain potentially carcinogenic ingredients—covering up instead of smearing is looking better and better to many people. Clothing manufacturers are responding to the increased demand for shirts, pants, dresses and hats bearing Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) ratings with stylish sun-protective duds.
• Sun Tan: Darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays has detrimental health effects, including possible burn and even skin cancer.
• Sun Tanning: Also called bronzing, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays has detrimental health effects, including possible burn and even skin cancer.
• Swim Shirts: A swim shirt, also known as rash guard or rashie, is a type of athletic shirt made of spandex and nylon or polyester. People who are uncomfortable without a shirt will sometimes wear rash guards while swimming. Some rash guards offer Ultraviolet Protection Factor to protect against the rays of the sun.
• Swim Tights: A type of pant made of spandex and nylon or polyester. Swim Tights offer Ultraviolet Protection Factor to protect against the rays of the sun.
• Tanning: Also called bronzing, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays has detrimental health effects, including possible burn and even skin cancer.
• Tanning Beds: A tanning bed or sunbed is a device emitting ultraviolet radiation used to produce a cosmetic tan.
• Tetracycline: Antibiotic for use against bacterial infections. A side effect is skin photo-sensitivity and exposure to the Sun or intense light is not recommended.
• Titanium Dioxide: Titanium dioxide is found in almost every sunscreen with a physical blocker because of its high refractive index, its strong UV light absorbing capabilities and its resistance to discoloration under ultraviolet. This advantage enhances its stability and ability to protect the skin from ultraviolet light.
• UV Clothing: UV clothing is clothing specifically designed for sun protection and is produced from a fabric rated for its level of ultraviolet (UV) protection.
• UV Index: The ozone layer shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Ozone depletion, as well as seasonal and weather variations, cause different amounts of UV radiation to reach the Earth at any given time. The UV Index, developed by the National Weather Service and EPA, indicates the strength of solar UV radiation on a scale from 1 (low) to 11+ (extremely high). Every day the National Weather Service calculates the predicted UV Index for the next day in each area of the U.S. This UV Index forecast is published in mid-afternoon (Eastern time zone) at the EPA Web site. If the level of solar UV radiation is predicted to be unusually high, and consequently the risk of overexposure is greater than normal, the forecast includes a UV Alert. (You can sign up below to receive e-mail notification of UV Alerts for your community.)
• Ultraviolet: Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than x-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV. It is so named because the spectrum consists of electromagnetic waves with frequencies higher than those that humans identify as the color violet. UV light is found in sunlight and is emitted by electric arcs and specialized lights such as black lights.
• UPF Clothing: Ultra-violet protection factor clothing offers another way to protect skin from the harmful effects of the sun. Sun-protective fabrics differ from typical summer fabrics in several ways: they typically have a tighter weave or knit and are usually darker in color. Sun-protective clothes have a label listing the garment’s Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) value, that is, the level of protection the garment provides from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. The higher the UPF, the higher the protection from the sun’s UV rays. Hook & Tackle offers a top-notch offering of Sun Protection Clothing.
• Ultraviolet protection factor (UPF): A rating designation for sun protective textiles and clothing is UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor). Unlike SPF Sun Protection Factor that measures only UVB, UPF measures both UVA and UVB. UPF rating for a fabric/textile is the ratio of UV measured without the protection of the fabric (compared to) with protection of the fabric. For example, a fabric rated UPF 30 means that if 30 units of UV fall on the fabric only 1 unit will pass through. A UPF 30 fabric that blocks or absorbs 29 out of 30 units of UV is therefore blocking 96.7% UV.
• UV Protection Sunglasses: UV Protection Sunglasses typically block at least 99 percent of UVB rays and at least 95 percent of UVA rays. UV Protection Sunglasses are important because UV radiation from the sun can damage not only the skin of your eyelids but also the clear outer parts of the eye — the cornea and conjunctiva. UV exposure also contributes to the development of certain types of cataracts.
• Ultraviolet radiation (UV radiation or UVR): Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is defined as that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between x rays and visible light, i.e., between 40 and 400 nm (30–3 eV). The UV spectrum is divided into Vacuum UV (40-190 nm), Far UV (190-220 nm), UVC (220-290 nm), UVB (290-320), and UVA (320-400 nm).
• UV radiation monitoring: The U.S. National Weather Service calculates UV Index using a computer model that relates the ground-level strength of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation to forecasted stratospheric ozone concentration, forecasted cloud amounts, and elevation of the ground.
• UV radiation policy: A policy to ensure that people work and play in healthy and sun safe conditions. This means controlling exposure to solar radiation and heat stress hazards, and to providing personal protection to minimize the effects of these hazards.
• UV risk assessment: The UV index is a risk assessment scale for measuring the amount of UV radiation reaching the ground and posing danger to humans. On a scale of 0-10, 0 is minimal exposure, 10 is very high exposure. The UV Index can help the public be aware of the level of UV radiation exposure expected on a given day. As a result, people can use simple sun protective behaviors to reduce their lifetime risk of developing skin cancer and other sun-related illnesses.
• UVA: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is defined as that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between x rays and visible light, i.e., between 40 and 400 nm. UVA represents that portion of the spectrum between 320-400 nm. 98.7% of the ultraviolet radiation that reaches the Earth's surface is UVA. UVA, which penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB, plays a major part in skin aging and wrinkling and causes significant damage in areas of the epidermis (outermost skin layer) where most skin cancers occur.

• UVB: These have slightly longer wavelengths (290–320 nm) and lower energy than UVC rays. These rays are filtered partially by the ozone layer, but some still reach the earth's surface. In low doses, UVB radiation stimulates the production of melanin (a skin pigment), causing the skin to darken, creating a suntan. But in higher doses, UVB rays cause sunburn that increases the risk of skin cancer. UVB rays also cause skin discolorations, wrinkles and other signs of premature aging of the skin.
• UVC: These are the highest-energy UV rays and potentially could be the most harmful to your eyes and skin. Fortunately, the atmosphere's ozone layer blocks virtually all UVC rays. But this also means depletion of the ozone layer potentially could allow high-energy UVC rays to reach the earth's surface and cause serious UV-related health problems. UVC rays have wavelengths of 220–290 nanometer (nm).
• Vitamin D: Vitamin D is essential for strong bones and a healthy immune system. While a limited amount of vitamin D can be obtained from exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the health risks of UV exposure — including skin cancer — are great. Instead, The Skin Cancer Foundation suggests you get our recommended daily 1,000 IU (international units) of vitamin D a day from food sources like oily fish, fortified dairy products and cereals, and supplements.
• Vitiligo: A condition in which your skin loses melanin, the pigment that determines the color of your skin, hair and eyes. If the cells that produce melanin die or no longer form melanin, slowly growing white patches of irregular shapes appear on your skin.
• World Health Organization (WHO): A specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Its major task is to combat disease, especially key infectious diseases, and to promote the general health of the people of the world.
• Zinc Oxide:Zinc Oxide absorbs both UVA (320-400 nm) and UVB (280-320 nm) rays of ultraviolet light and is used in lotions and can be embedded in textiles to protect against sunburn and other damage to the skin caused by ultraviolet light. It is the broadest spectrum UVA and UVB absorber that is approved for use as a sunscreen by the FDA.