‘Always wear sunscreen before stepping out’ -- you might have read this many times, but it is necessary to in go for right product at the same time. According to reports, it is easy to prevent the most common type of cancer, if people pay attention to the type of sunscreen they wear.

According to the American Cancer Society, each year, over 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed and over-exposure to the sun is one of the main reasons of malignant melanomas, which is the most aggressive form. According to experts, finding the right product that will work for an individual’s skin type is not always easy, when one considers labels claiming high SPF numbers, or that more expensive sunscreens are always better.

If a sunscreen is applied improperly, or a wrong product is used, it could lead to lasting damaging effects like premature aging, suboptimal levels of Vitamin D, and other chemical imbalances.

Dermatologists suggest properly shaking the bottle so as to mix particles that might have clumped together. They said that sunscreen should be reapplied every two hours, or after swimming or sweating.

While looking for good sunscreens, one should go for those products that protect against UV-A and UV-B rays with an SPF of 15 or more. However, a product with higher SPF levels does not always indicate that it is stronger.

According to Physician’s Assistant Dermatologist Walt Sims of Skin Solutions in Columbia, “Pretty much the general consensous in the dermatology world is 30-50 is your SPF range. Anything over 50 is very marginal, almost fractional. But more than the SPF, you want to be sure your sunscreen contains the two physical blockers zinc and titanium”.