Dear Dr. Pickart,

This afternoon, I visited a local 'medispa' and there were SkinCeuticals products being demonstrated. One of their products 'C E Ferulic' claims that it provides 8x skin's natural photoprotection, Neutralizes UV- and all three IRA-induced free radicals, and remains protective in the skin for 3 days without being rubbed or washed off. The information I was given to take home on this product states that out of 54% of infrared radiation that reaches the skin, over half is IRA, and 65% of it's energy reaches the skin's dermal layers, the tissue is responsible for housing structural fibers: collagen and elastin. What are your thoughts and/or opinions about Infrared Radiation?

Another one of the products by the same manufacturer contains a broad spectrum SPF 50 that contains a 100% mineral filter of zinc oxide (Z-COTE) which apparently is a transparent form of zinc oxide. I'm uncertain why it's important to have a transparent form of zinc oxide, or any form of zinc oxide.

What it all boils down to (no pun intended) is that I'm trying to figure out what the best form of UV protection would be for my fair skin. Do Copper Peptides protect at all from all types of IR? I remember reading in the forum that salicylic acid somehow protects against UVA and/or UVB, but am uncertain about protecting from IR. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I rarely spend long periods of time, and even after 30 minutes of sun exposure, I feel like a hot dog in a microwave. I live in Minnesota, where the summers are quite hot, and humid, and the winters are blistering cold, so I use products with sun protection every day as part of my skincare/make-up routine.

I currently use Day Cover as my daytime moisturizer, in addition to a translucent powder with an SPF 30, that does not contain zinc oxide, since its my understanding that zinc oxide interferes with the effectiveness of copper peptides. Would you please let me know if I should be using any additional product(s) to protect from all types of IR? Before today, I was never educated about IRs, and was always looking for an SPF product to protect from both UVB and UVA.

Thanks!

Dear pinkdervish:

Thanks for posting - We are sure Dr. Pickart will have some comments on this.

In the meantime, it's of note that Dr. Pickart has stated before that too much zinc may drive out copper - Please review his comments at the following links:

"The problem with zinc oxide is that skin acids can cause the zinc oxide to release zinc ions. These can interfere with the actions of the copper ions. Some women tell me that zinc oxide sunscreens increase the size of their pores."

"Women also were saying that heavy zinc oxide use made their pores larger. Too much zinc will block copper skin rebuilding actions." - See: https://healthyskin.infopop.cc/...=646106506#646106506

https://healthyskin.infopop.cc/...=931106116#931106116

Overall, it may just be better to look for sunscreens that are free of zinc.

................................................................................................................................

And we have always recommended that clients look for non-micronized products. Pure, non-micronized, and often pasty, minerals are better reflectors of ultraviolet light.

Many may prefer a clear or transparent product with micronized sunblockers because they give a better cosmetic appearance on the skin. But sunblocks that are micronized and coated with plastics or silicone more easily pass the skin barrier and can reach the skin's sensitive areas. For this reason, pure physical sunblockers are the safest.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SkinBiologyWebmaster,