Do Oral Sunscreens Prevent Sun Damage?

By Drew on 14th September, 2009

By: Richard S. Donovan

Do you worry that your sunscreen isn’t doing enough to protect you against sun damage? Well there’s now a whole new breed of sunscreen on the market designed to give you additional sun protection. It’s sun protection in an easy to swallow pill. These oral sunscreens are made up of an herbal extract with strong antioxidant properties.

It’s thought that the antioxidant potential of the sunscreen offsets the free radical damage caused by exposure to the sun. It’s this free radical damage that’s thought to contribute to everything from skin cancers to skin aging. Indeed, studies have shown that people were able to stay in the sun for longer periods of time without burning when they took one of these herbal extracts before exposure.

While the results of trials with these oral sunscreens are encouraging, they aren’t a suitable replacement for your topical sunscreen. A topically applied sunscreen is still necessary to shield against significant sun damage. The primary function of an oral sunscreen is to counteract any damage that might occur despite the application of a topical sunscreen. In a sense, it provides back up protection when your regular sunscreen fails. So don’t throw away your bottle of conventional sunscreen even if you’re tempted to try one of these new oral sunscreens.

Although oral sunscreens may serve a useful purpose if used in combination with a topically applied sunscreen, there are some important points to keep in mind to maximize their benefit and safety. They should not be used if you’re pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant in the near future. Cost may be a factor for some people. These pills average a little over $1.00 each in price, not a small cost to pay if you’re going to be out in the sun a lot.

What about the potential of oral sunscreens to prevent skin cancer? In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, nine volunteers were exposed to U.V. light without taking the extract and again after taking the extract. A biopsy performed on each volunteer showed less skin damage that might be associated with skin cancer in those taking the herbal extract.

How are these oral sunscreens marketed? Two popular brand names are Heliocare and SunPill which can be found online. It’s difficult to assess the popularity of these oral sunscreens as of yet but the high price and somewhat limited availability may make these pills somewhat less popular. If you decide to try them, be sure to continue to apply your topical sunscreen every time you go out in the sun and use oral sunscreens only as a back up for your proven sun protection. However, in this day and age you really can never be too careful when it comes to protecting your skin from the sun. So using both oral and topical sunscreen may prove to be an excellent choice.