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What Ingredients in Sunscreens Are Best in Protecting Me from the Sun?

What Ingredients in Sunscreens Are Best in Protecting Me from the Sun? (0:33)

The most effective, natural ingredients to protect you from the sun are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which block both UVA and UVB rays. In this video, dermatologist Cybele Fishman, MD, discusses what to look for when choosing a sunscreen.

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So because I tend to skew towards natural products, and that's what my patients are looking for, I recommend something with either zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. These are inert minerals, so they are not going to cause allergy and they are really good at blocking both UV A and UV B which some of the chemical sunscreens are not.

So definitely zinc and titanium are my favorite. If you do want to use a chemical sunscreen, I would say the best one is called Ecamsule,also known as Mexoryl, because I think that's the safest and most effective of the chemicals on the screen.