Protect yourself

• Seek shade.
• Wear protective clothing.
• Wear a broad-brimmed hat to protect the eyes, face and neck.
• Protect the eyes with wrap-around-design sunglasses or sunglasses with side panels.
• Use and reapply broad-spectrum sunscreen of sun protection factor (SPF)15+ liberally
• Avoid tanning beds.
• Protect babies and young children: this is particularly important.

Shade, clothing and hats provide the best protection – apply sunscreen to parts of the body that remain exposed, like the face and hands. Sunscreen should never be used to prolong the duration of sun exposure. Two different concepts of sun protection have been proposed: a binary response with a defined threshold UVI value beyond which sun protection is recommended, or a graded response with increasing UVI values that would involve the successive use of different sun-protective measures. There is little scientific basis to support the latter: if sun protection is required, this should include all protective means, i.e. clothing, sunglasses, shade and sunscreen. Nevertheless, a graded approach is relevant in the sense that more sun protection is needed at higher UV radiation levels. Even for very sensitive fair-skinned people, the risk of short-term and long-term UV radiation damage below a UVI of 3 is limited, and under normal circumstances no protective measures are needed. Above the threshold value of 3, protection is necessary, and this message should be reinforced at UVI values of 8 and above.

This is a joint recommendation of:

World Health Organization
World Meteorological Organization
United Nations Environment Programme
International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
Source: Global Solar UV Index - a Practical Guide