Abstract

The Italian (SICC) and American (SCC) Societies of Cosmetic Chemists, with the endorsement of the Japanese Society, have recently met in Stresa (Italy) for the 1st IPCE (Intercontinental Personal Care Excellence) conference. I recall a speech by one of the chairpersons, where he was commenting a slide showing two very significant pictures of the evolution of tanning habits over the years. On the left, you could see a young lady in a bikini, happily basking in the sun and who didn’t show the slightest concern, whereas on the right the picture showed today’s approach to staying in the sun: another young lady, this time wearing a shirt, a broad-brimmed hat, sunglasses and under a parasol. An exaggeration?

Well, we live in a fast-paced world today, where news go around at the speed of a tap on a touchscreen. Every day, I happen to receive all sorts of questions on what to eat, how dangerous is certain medication, the dyes in the clothing we wear and other materials, etc. Most of these news many times are actually fake, or at the least far-fetched, yet this is not the case for sun protection, which we must take into account very seriously. Today, sun radiation causes more damage than in the past, for instance due to the fast-changing climate conditions, which has changed the amount of sun radiation our skin has to bear. Our skin is also weaker because we live more indoors than in the past, we shower much more, thus reduce skin’s resistance to environmental agents, we don’t eat that healthily and our pace of life is more stressful. It is a fact that we are less protected today and, in fact, skin diseases are on the rise all over the world.

This is why it is important to speak of sun protection, prevention of UV-induced damage to skin, new ingredients and formulations that can increase sun protection for manufacturers to exploit and end users to benefit from, that is us, our families. Gathering at these conferences is not a mere exercise of academic knowledge or the response to marketing logics. It is also the need to reassure concerned end users, to teach people to perhaps sunbathe less but better, keeping in mind that properly sunbathing can actually be healthy (in post-war Italy, heliotherapy had helped many children affected by rickets).

H&PC Today has always covered the many aspects involved in sun protection, with content by qualified experts working in the sun protection and skin care industry.

This focus features a number of interviews to a number of professionals, which offer an overview of this ever-changing skin care segment – thank you to these experts for accepting to be interviewed.

As usual, we need to learn ourselves to spread knowledge properly – it is any journalist’s mission. This, for instance, allows to foster proper sun care and stop the silly “sun scare”.

Enjoy the reading.

Giulio Fezzardini (Tks Publisher)

What is the current situation of sun care issues taking into consideration ageing, pollution and globalization (food, ethnic groups, life style)?

Zoe Draelos

Suncare is more important than ever. The challenge is the lack of new filters approved for use in the US.  The filter technology has advanced, but regulatory issues lag. With the aging of the population, skin cancer becomes an increasingly expensive healthcare burden.  Sunscreen and sun avoidance are the only effective ways of minimizing skin cancer. However, we are also becoming aware of the oxidative damage done to the skin by pollution, in addition to UV radiation.  This means the role of the sunscreen vehicle in trapping nanoparticle pollution and preventing skin contact from oxygen radicals is a new area of research.  Sunscreens will become more important as we better understand the effects of the environment on aging.

Zoe Diana Draelos

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