Some of the best childhood activities take place outdoors: swimming, camping, playing in the park or building sandcastles on the beach. As children get ready for outdoor fun, parents need to remember to protect their kids’ skin from the sun.
Amy Gilliam, M.D., pediatric dermatologist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, answers commonly asked questions about children’s skin care.
First of all, remember good sun protection is always a must and should become just as much a part of your children’s daily routine as brushing their teeth. Even on a cloudy day, up to 80 percent of the sun’s ultraviolet rays (UVA and UVB) can pass through the clouds and cause damage.
Here are sun safety tips you can use daily:
These are the recommendations I give my patients.
Babies under 6 months of age should avoid all sun exposure and direct sunlight. Dress your son in lightweight pants and long-sleeved shirts and a hat with a brim. When you go out and about with him, apply a minimal amount of sunscreen (with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) to exposed areas such as his face and the backs of his hands.
Vitamin D is very important for good health and a lack of it can cause serious illnesses such as rickets – a disease that weakens bones. Sun exposure is one way of getting vitamin D and wearing sunscreen does decrease the skin’s production of it. However, intentional sun exposure is not the best option for your children’s health. Instead, talk to your doctor about adding more vitamin D rich foods to your children’s diet or taking a daily supplement.
Teens, especially teenage girls, can be very attracted to indoor tanning because they see it as a quick and easy way to improve their appearance – and their friends are doing it, too. However, an indoor tanning salon is not a safe way to get a tan or to get more vitamin D. Tanning beds emit similar amounts of ultraviolet rays as the sun does and can cause equal skin damage and cancer. The bottom line is that there is no upside to indoor tanning beds or home-tanning equipment – your teen should definitely avoid both.
To avoid rough patches and discomfort from itchy and dry skin, moisturize twice a day, and if your child has eczema, it’s essential to moisturize often. Cream or ointment-based moisturizers are best. Creams that come in tubs or squeeze bottles tend to give better results than lotions that come in pump-based containers, as lotions are thinner than and not as effective as moisturizers.
You don’t need to buy products marketed specifically for babies. Instead, choose creams that are fragrance-free to avoid irritating your baby’s skin.
If your child still has dry and itchy skin, talk to your pediatrician about other treatment options.
If you’re in an area that has lots of mosquitoes, dress the kids—and yourself—in long sleeves and pants. That’s the best preventive measure. For added protection, apply an insect repellent containing 10 to 30 percent DEET to exposed skin once before going outdoors.
Don’t put repellent around the eyes or mouths, and do not use DEET insect repellents on infants 2 months of age and younger.
If you don’t want to use repellent on your child’s skin, you can buy a clip-on repellent and clip it to your child’s clothes. You can also use a plug-in repellent for the bedroom or a mosquito net to protect your child from mosquitoes at night.