Sunscreen formulation: Optimizing efficacy of UVB and UVA Protection

Abstract

Protection provided by sunscreen products has improved dramatically since the early days of availability of commercial products in the 1950s and 1960s. Early products focused primarily on protection against short-wave ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from sunlight, the primary source of sunburn. With more recent emphasis on adding ultraviolet A (UVA) protection to sunscreens and availability of UV filters capable of blocking far into the long wavelength UVA region, sunscreen protection has truly become “broad spectrum,” and the sun protection factors (SPFs) have dramatically increased. Achieving broad-spectrum protection that is also high in the level of protection is achieved by careful choice of UV filters with supportive vehicles that allow these filters to work to their optimal levels of efficiency.