Recently, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS), requested the voluntary withdrawal of 14 sunscreens sold in the Spanish market, with the argument that their Sun Protection Factor (SPF) was not the corresponding with the labeling.

This work began in 2019, and its objective was to establish that the SPF offered on the labels of mulitple sunscreens, which often show a 50+ SPF, were real and met that expectation.

To the surprise of many, several of the products evaluated did not meet the SPF labeling, and very important dermatological laboratories were on this list.

To better understand the issue, it is necessary to address the concept of SPF, or Sun Protection Factor. This is the measure that indicates the time it will take for the skin to generate redness due to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). In that order of ideas, if my skin is very white and it takes 5 minutes to turn red when I expose myself, with an SPF of 30 it will take 150 minutes to turn red. However, this is under ideal and laboratory conditions, since, in real life, SPF is influenced by multiple factors: Percutaneous absorption, sweating of the skin, external water sweeping or rinsing, etc.

When a sunscreen is listed with SPF 50+, it’s understood that its protection is Very High, and it is considered that the protection offered will be enough to avoid the adverse effects of UVR. It’s also not appropriate to label sunscreens above 50 +, since, by definition, the curve in protection is not going to be greater and the marketing effect on consumers when talking about SPF 100 is only for the purpose of increasing the sales of a product, but not necessarily for being better.

In terms of protection, it should be understood that the SPF will not give us a specific "lasting" protection time. As stated before, the action of a sunscreen is influenced by different external factors. Thus, in dermatology setting, the recommendation is to use sunscreens with high SPF (after 30 all are very good), and we encourage people to apply repeated times of the day Sunscreen. In days of summer, when we are doing outdoor activities, the application of sunscreen should be every 3 hours at least, in order to maintain adequate protection during the time we are exposed. Of special importance is the application of daily sunscreen on the face and its repetition, whatever the time of year is. This should be as sacred a habit as dental grooming, finally, our face is our best letter of introduction!

That is why Europe is so rigorous in banning 50+ labels, and constantly subjects such sunscreens to assessments, in order to establish the veracity of their labels and to call for the withdrawal of products that do not clearly offer what they are marking on their packaging.