Ivy Family Health Updates

 
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In this segment, Dr. John Martin discusses sunprotective clothing with his sister Dr. Kathryn Martin, and his brother Dr. Edward Martin.

When we look for a good sunscreen, we look at the SPF which is the sun protection factor. For clothing, you want to look for the UPF, which is the ultraviolet protective factor. This is the amount of UV radiation that penetrates a fabric and indicates how much UV radiation is absorbed. So fabric with 50 rating will allow 1/50th of the suns rays to pass through. When outdoors, for good protection you want to wear UPF of 30 or more.

Light colored, light weight, loosely woven fabrics offer poor protection against the sun. For example a white t-shirt has an UPF of about 7. If the fabric is wet, it will lower the UPF by 50%. And if the fabric is stretched, it will also lose some of its’ protective ability.

Dark heavy fabrics offer much better protection, and a long sleeved dark denim shirt: has a UPF or about 1700, which is essentially a complete sun block.

Many different manufacturers now make clothing which will help to protect you skin when out in the sun, such as Solumbra, Sunprecautions, LL Bean, Sun-togs, Coolibar, Sunday Afternoon, and several others. The UV absorbers are in the clothes, and prevent penetration of both UVA and UVB.

You can also make your own clothes more sunprotective by using Laundry Sun Guard, made by RID.This contains the sunscreen Tinosorb ® FD. You put this into the wash with your clothes, and it will increase the UPF of your clothing to about 30, and last for up to 30 washings.