Sunscreens on the market to prevent sunburns may not be doing much good.

New research shows the ultraviolet B rays sunscreens are designed to shield aren’t the real problem.

“UVB rays cause your skin to burn, but ultraviolet A rays are the most damaging,” said Ronda Cruse, certified medical assistant for dermatologist Richard Lloyd’s office, 2521 Elwood Drive.

UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin, ruining skin’s elasticity and damaging skin cells, which can cause skin cancer, she said. This means that there is no such thing as a healthy tan, Cruse said.

If two people have been exposed to the sun for the same amount of time, and one burns and the other tans, “they have both just fried their skin, because they have been exposed to UVA rays,” she said.

Most sunscreens do not protect skin from UVA rays, Cruse said. This means even a sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 30 does not fully protect skin from the most deadly rays.

Sunscreens that do protect from UVA rays contain at least one of two active ingredients, parsol or titanium dioxide, Cruse said. Currently, there are two such sunscreens on the market, Ombrelle and Pre Sun 28, she said.

These sunscreens can both be purchased at Drug Town, 500 Main St., and they are also available at the ISU Student Health Center Pharmacy for about $8.

It also is important to replace sunscreen every year because the effectiveness of active ingredients diminishes with time, Cruse said.

Some people feel they don’t need to wear sunscreen because they aren’t outside very often. However, Cruse said “if you are outside longer than three minutes a day, you need to have sunscreen on.”

While sunscreen use increases with sunny weather, Cruse said it is needed year round, because UVA rays are present in every season.

“If you can see outside without a flashlight, you need sunscreen,” she said.

Protection from the sun is needed now more than ever, with the decreasing ozone layer, Cruse said.

Damage from the sun can show up as prematurely aging skin, wrinkles or cancer, Cruse said. Skin cancer, the most serious effect, comes in a variety of forms, she said. Basal cell carcinomas are not deadly. However, melanomas, which occur when a mole is damaged by the sun, can be deadly.

According to the National Cancer Institute, there are 700,000 new cases of skin cancer each year, and every year, more young people are affected, Cruse said.

“Six years ago, the youngest person I saw with skin cancer was 30,” she said. “I recently removed a basal cell carcinoma from a 14-year-old’s nose.”

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s article “Preventing Skin Cancer: The Nation’s Most Common Cancer,” there are certain people who are more at risk for developing skin cancer.

People who have a fair complexion, a family or personal history of breast cancer, are in the sun often, have a history of sunburns early in life or have a large number of moles or freckles are more at risk for skin cancer, according to the article.

For someone at risk for skin cancer, Cruse said it is important to see a dermatologist for a “body map.” This procedure can track the changes in the body’s skin, so skin cancer can be prevented or caught early on, she said.

“Once you have a melanoma, you will not be able to change your insurance,” Cruse said. “You will have to have chest X-ray every year, and you will have to have an area 5 inches in diameter carved out of your skin. And it is all because of the sun.”

Laura Harms, senior in dietetics, said she is careful in taking care of her fair skin by wearing sunscreen every day. Harms said her skin reacts to the sun by burning and freckling.

“I am careful with my skin because I had to have a suspicious mark removed from my back,” she said.

There are things that can be done to minimize the pain and damage, Cruse said.

Acetic acid, found in white vinegar, can prevent sunburns from penetrating deeper into the skin and can also soothe painful skin, she said.

If just one area of the body is burnt, Cruse recommended combining three tablespoons of vinegar with four of cups water and applying it to the affected area. If the whole body is burnt, mix one cup of vinegar with a half-bathtub of water and soak.

For severe sunburns, shots are available from dermatologists to prevent further damage to the skin, she said.

Other products, such as aloe vera and after-sun sprays, will soothe burns but will not stop the damage, Cruse said.

Not everyone sees the sun as harmful.

“Could we survive without the sun? No,” said Luella Gustafson, owner of Electric Beach Tan and Travel, 809 Wheeler St.

While Gustafson said “you can overdo anything,” including tanning, she added “there are smart, responsible ways of getting a tan.”

Gustafson said tanning beds at Electric Beach Tan and Travel use a combination of UVB and UVA rays to give a slow tan.

This combination is “less damaging because there is no reddening of the skin,” she said.

However, Cruse said there is no such thing as a safe tan.

“Any tan is a bad tan – I don’t care what they say,” she said. “The only safe tan comes in a bottle.”

Staci Hockemeyer, senior in dietetics, uses sunless tanners to give her skin a glow without being in the sun.

“I like using them as an alternative to tanning, especially on my face, which is more susceptible to being burnt,” she said.

Cruse said her office has found that Banana Boat Sunless Tanning Mousse works best for fair skin, while California Tan Sunless Tanner is best for dark complexions.

In spite of warnings, she said, many are willing to take the risk of being out in the sun without protection in order to get golden skin associated with summer.

“Eventually, it will catch up with them, whether it’s wrinkles, aging or cancer,” Cruse said.

Stuart Kolner, dermatologist at the McFarland Clinic, 1215 Duff Ave., also said the appearance of a tan is overshadowed by the long-term health threats.

“It doesn’t seem to make sense to pursue a short-term cosmetic benefit such as a tan, only to pay a high price in the long run, such as prematurely leathery skin, or an even higher price such as skin cancer or death,” he said. “Remember, leather is skin, and the process of treating skin to turn it into leather is called tanning.”