What’s the Right Amount of Sun Exposure for You? ~ Restorative Dermatology

WHAT’S THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF EXPOSURE FOR YOU ~ RESTORATIVE DERMATOLOGY

There are people who argue that you should get no sun exposure at all.  I’m not in that camp, as you can tell by my suntan.  However, I do protect myself as much as I can when I am outside.

I am a Mediterranean skin type with brown eyes and I can deal with ten or fifteen or twenty minutes of sun exposure with no problem. If I get a lot more sun exposure, I’ll get red. It’s the beginning of the season when I haven’t been outside it all. I’ll get even a chance at burning my skin, so I’m very careful with that. Now if you have light skin, you’re one of those types from whose family descends from the northern climates, then you could probably take less sun than that.

If your skin is darker, you can deal with even more sun, and not have a burn or as much damage. Remember our skin makes vitamin D. So the places that are family descended from determines how much sun we need to get through in order to make enough vitamin D. I think it’s important that you understand how much it takes to give yourself a little bit of vitamin D production, which could be ten or fifteen minutes on the side as an average, for an average person, say a Mediterranean skin type and from that, gauge how much sun you get, but certainly well before the time where you would turn red.