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Hello,
I'm Dr. Neal Schultz.
[pause]
And welcome to DermTV.
Many of you know how I love the convenience and
utility of combination products,
such as combination sunscreens and moisturizers,
and even sunscreens with exfoliants.
One combination product however that may seem a little odd,
if you’ve heard my message about how important it is
to apply antioxidants at bedtime, is sunscreens with antioxidants.
Well… you obviously need sunscreen only during the day,
and since I believe that antioxidants work best at bedtime,
then what would be the point of having a product
with sunscreens and antioxidants? And more importantly,
is it actually harmful to the sunscreen if it’s combined with antioxidants?
As you recall, the role of antioxidants is to protect the vital parts
inside your cells like DNA, cell-membranes and so on,
from high energy compounds like free radicals and ultraviolet energy
that inflict very harmful damage inside the cells.
To protect your cells, the antioxidants must have time
to be absorbed into your cells
so that they can then absorb the free radical energy and neutralize it.
In the process, the antioxidants get destroyed.
However, antioxidants on the surface of the skin also absorb
and neutralize the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
In that case, the antioxidant is destroyed before it gets inside your skin cells.
So sunscreens that contain antioxidants most probably
will have their antioxidant protection inactivated
by the sun’s ultraviolet light during the day
before they have a chance to be absorbed into your cells.
However, that doesn’t in any way compromise the sunscreen,
and in fact, the antioxidants actually synergize with the sunscreen
to give you added protection on the surface of your skin
from UVA and UVB.
But remember that many antioxidants
also have anti-inflammatory powers
which are not inactivated by UV radiation.
So with a combination sunscreen antioxidant,
you still get the added benefit of the anti-inflammatory effects
of the antioxidant during the day.
The bottom line is that combination products with antioxidants
and sunscreens do nothing to compromise the sunscreen,
and in fact, the antioxidant may actually
increase the potency of the sunscreen since the antioxidant
is also helping to absorb and neutralize dangerous
ultraviolet light from the sun, and here’s the payoff…
At the same time, you still get the benefit of the anti-inflammatory
power of the antioxidant.
I really love combination products!