Scottsdale – As if living in the desert was not enough… apparently, going to higher ground increases sun damage to your skin. Reuters news  story shows higher SPF 70+ formulation was very effective in protecting skin from sunburns under extreme ultraviolet light and sporting conditions. In the study, 43 golfers playing for an average of 4.5 hours each applied the sunscreen themselves. Twenty-one golfers applied the SPF 70+ sport sunscreen over the entire face before they went out to play golf. The sunscreen was reapplied again about half way through their golf game.

Dr. Darrell Rigel from New York University Medical Center presented his findings at the 68th annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

“You have to be extra careful at protecting yourself at high altitudes,” Rigel told Reuters Health. “People don’t realize how much additional sun you get at higher altitudes. It’s anywhere from an 8 percent to a 10 percent increase for every thousand feet of elevation. In the summertime, you can get anywhere from 40 percent to 50 percent greater sun intensity than at sea level.”

Dr. Rigel reported that golfers who started out with the SPF 70+ sunscreen on their entire face and then reapplied it to half the face two hours later had no skin reddening at the end of the 4.5 hours, and none of the golfers who used the SPF 70 formulation complained of sunburn. In comparison, 7 of 22 golfers who applied SPF 15 to half the face had noticeable skin reddening on that side.

In a study published last month in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Rigel and his colleagues reported similar results with ski instructors in Vail, who applied two different sunscreens – one with an SPF of 50 and the other with an SPF of 85 – to different sides of their face. The SPF 50 sunscreen was not enough to protect them from sunburn.

“They put the sunscreen on in the morning, before they went out and skied an average of 5 hours a day and when we evaluated them the next morning, the ones who used the SPF 50 formulation were burned,” he said.

The moral of the study here is that higher SPF formulations tend to protect you better at higher elevations, lasts longer and is more effective at preventing sunburns.