History

History

The first effective sunscreen may have been developed by chemist Franz Greiter in 1938. The product, called Gletscher Crème (Glacier Cream), subsequently became the basis for the company Piz Buin (named in honor of the place Greiter allegedly obtained the sunburn that inspired his concoction), which is still today a marketer of sunscreen products.^[7] It has been estimated that Gletscher Crème had a sun protection factor of 2.

The first widely used sunscreen was produced by Benjamin Green, an airman and later a pharmacist, in 1944. The product, Red Vet Pet (for red veterinary petrolatum), had limited effectiveness, working as a physical blocker of ultraviolet radiation. It was a disagreeable red, sticky substance similar to petroleum jelly. This product was developed during the height of World War II, when it was likely that the hazards of sun overexposure were becoming apparent to soldiers in the Pacific and to their families at home. Sales of this product boomed when Coppertone acquired the patent and marketed the substance under the Coppertone girl and Bain de Soleil branding in the early 1950s.

Franz Greiter is credited with introducing the concept of sun protection factor (SPF) in 1962, which has become a worldwide standard for measuring the effectiveness of sunscreen when applied at an even rate of 2 milligrams per square centimeter (mg/cm²). Some controversy exists over the usefulness of SPF measurements, especially whether the 2 mg/cm² application rate is an accurate reflection of people’s actual use.

Newer sunscreens have been developed with the ability to withstand contact with water, heat and sweat.

Dosage

Dosage

Sunscreen helps prevent sunburn, such as this, which has blistered

The dose used in FDA sunscreen testing is 2 mg/cm² of exposed skin.^[3] Provided one assumes an "average" adult build of height 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) and weight 150 lb (68 kg) with a 32 in (82 cm) waist, that adult wearing a bathing suit covering the groin area should apply 29 g (approximately 1 oz) evenly to the uncovered body area. Considering only the face, this translates to about 1/4 to 1/3 of a teaspoon for the average adult face. Larger individuals should scale these quantities accordingly.

Contrary to the common advice that sunscreen should be reapplied every 2–3 hours, some research has shown that the best protection is achieved by application 15–30 minutes before exposure, followed by one reapplication 15–30 minutes after the sun exposure begins. Further reapplication is only necessary after activities such as swimming, sweating, or rubbing/wiping.^[4]

However, more recent research at the University of California, Riverside, indicates that sunscreen needs to be reapplied within 2 hours in order to remain effective. Not reapplying could even cause more cell damage than not using sunscreen at all, due to the release of extra free radicals from those sunscreen chemicals which were absorbed into the skin.^[5] Some studies have shown that people commonly apply only 1/2 to 1/4 of the amount recommended to achieve the rated sun protection factor (SPF), and in consequence the effective SPF should be downgraded to a square or 4th root of the advertised value.^[6]

Sunscreen

Sunscreen, also commonly known as sun block, sun lotion or sun cream,^[1] is a lotion, spray, gel or other topical product that absorbs or reflects some of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the skin exposed to sunlight and thus helps protect against sunburn. Skin lightening products have sunscreen to protect lightened skin because light skin is more susceptible to sun damage than darker skin.

Sunscreens contain one or more of the following ingredients:

• Organic chemical compounds that absorb ultraviolet light.
• Inorganic particulates that reflect, scatter, and absorb UV light (such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or a combination of both).
• Organic particulates that mostly absorb light like organic chemical compounds, but contain multiple chromophores, may reflect and scatter a fraction of light like inorganic particulates, and behave differently in formulations than organic chemical compounds. An example is Tinosorb M. Since the UV-attenuating efficacy depends strongly on particle size, the material is micronised to particle sizes below 200 nm. The mode of action of this photostable filter system is governed to about 90% by absorption and 10% by scattering of UV light.

Medical organizations such as the American Cancer Society recommend the use of sunscreen because it prevents the squamous cell carcinoma and the basal cell carcinoma.^[2] However, the use of sunscreens is controversial for various reasons. Many do not block UVA radiation, which does not cause sunburn but can increase the rate of melanoma, another kind of skin cancer, so people using sunscreens may be getting too much UVA without realizing it. Additionally, sunscreens block UVB, and if used consistently this can cause a deficiency of vitamin D

Sponge (material)

A sponge is a tool, implement, utensil or cleaning aid consisting of porous material. Sponges are used for cleaning impervious surfaces. They are especially good absorbers of water and water-based solutions.

Sponges are commonly made from cellulose wood fibres, or foamed plastic polymers. Some natural sponges are still sold for the same purpose, although most natural sponges are now used either as body/facial sponges (bath sponges) or as decorating tools used for sponge painting.

There are three other categories of available synthetic sponges, low-density polyether (known as the rainbow packs of non-absorbent sponges), PVA (very dense, highly absorbent material with no visible pores) and polyester.

Polyester sponges are also sub-divided into a variety of types, some being reticulated (artificially broken-in) for ease of use. Other types are double-blown polyester, meaning that they have a high water retention ability, approaching or equalling PVA, but with visible pores and more flexibility of applications.

Risks of moisturizers

Risks of moisturizers

Two factors have to be considered when assessing the safety of a moisturizer:

1. The safety of the ingredients it contains. There are on-line databases like Skin Deep where consumers can get information about individual cosmetic ingredients.^[2]
2. The risk of bacterial contamination.

A recent study discovered that the application of certain moisturizers increases the incidence of skin cancer in high-risk mice. Note: these animals were subjected to UVB radiation in high doses over a long period of time prior to application of moisturizers.^[3] Four popular moisturizers were tested, providing the same result. It is not yet known if the same applies to humans. A fifth moisturizer, specially prepared without mineral oil and sodium lauryl sulphate, had no such effect.^[4] The researchers asked Johnson & Johnson to produce this cream for the study, which the pharmaceutical company later patented.

Some people are sensitive or allergic to certain chemical components, which can cause irritation, rashes, and other allergic reactions.

As with most skin-care products, there is a risk of moisturizers being contaminated with bacteria that can cause disease.

Moisturizer

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Moisturizer

Moisturizers or moisturisers (see spelling differences) are complex mixtures of chemical agents specially designed to make the external layers of the skin (epidermis) softer and more pliable, by increasing its hydration (water content) by reducing evaporation. Naturally occurring skin lipids and sterols as well as artificial or natural oils, humectants, emollients, lubricants, etc. may be part of the composition of commercial skin moisturizers. They usually are available as commercial products for cosmetic and therapeutic uses, but can also be made at home using common pharmacy ingredients.

Moisturizers prevent and treat dry skin, protect sensitive skin, improve skin tone and texture, and mask imperfections.^[1]

Types of cleansers

Types of cleansers

Different types of cleansers have been developed for people with different skin types. Active cleansers are more suitable for oily skins to prevent breakouts. But they may overdry and irritate dry skin, thus making the skin appear and feel worse. Very dry skin may require a creamy lotion-type cleanser. These are normally too gentle to be effective on oily or even normal skin, but dry skin requires much less cleansing power. It may be a good idea to select a cleanser that is alcohol free if you have dry, sensitive or dehydrated skin.

Some cleansers may incorporate fragrance or essential oils. However, for some people, these cleansers may irritate the skin and often provoke allergic responses. People with such sensitivity should find cleansers that are pH balanced, contain few irritants, suit many variating skin types and ones that don't make the skin feel dehydrated directly after cleansing. 'Tight' and uncomfortable feeling skin is often dehydrated, it may also appear shiny after cleansing, even when no sebum is present. This is due to the taughtening and 'stripping' effect some cleaners can have on the skin. Never continue use of a cleanser that upsets the balance of the skin, as cleansers should work with the skin, not against it.

A trial and error approach may be wise, there are also many forums and discussion boards across the internet concerning acne and other skin problems. A trip to your doctor may be helpful in acquiring something stronger to keep the acne at bay. For instance, a topical Benzoyl Peroxide cream, which is effective at killing bacteria and reducing sebum. Or an oral antibiotic such as Tetracycline which also fights bacteria.

Cleanser

A cleanser is a facial care product that is used to remove make-up, dead skin cells, oil, dirt and other types of pollutants from the skin of the face. This helps to unclog pores and prevent skin conditions such as acne.

Many people use a cleanser once or more times a day as part of their skin care regimen together with a toner and moisturizer.

Using a cleanser to remove dirt is considered to be a better alternative to bar soap or another form of skin cleanser not specifically formulated for the face for the following reasons:

• Bar soap has a high pH (in the area of 9 to 10), and skin's natural pH is 5.5^{[citation needed]}. This means that soap can change the balance present in the skin to favor the overgrowth of some types of bacteria, increasing acne.
• Bar cleansers in general, soap or not, have thickeners that allow them to assume a bar shape can clog pores, leading (once again) to acne^{[citation needed]}.
• Using bar soap on the face can remove natural oils from the skin that form a barrier against water loss. This causes the sebaceous glands to subsequently overproduce oil, a condition known as reactive seborrhoea, which will lead to clogged pores^{[citation needed]}. Conversely, in order to prevent drying out the skin, many cleansers incorporate moisturisers.

Uses Astringent medicines

Uses

Astringent medicines cause shrinkage of mucous membranes or exposed tissues and are often used internally to check discharge of blood serum or mucous secretions. This can happen with a sore throat, hemorrhages, diarrhea, or with peptic ulcers. Externally applied astringents, which cause mild coagulation of skin proteins, dry, harden, and protect the skin. Acne sufferers are often advised to use astringents if they have oily skin.^[1] Astringents also help heal stretch marks and other scars.^{[citation needed]} Mild astringent solutions are used in the relief of such minor skin irritations as those resulting from superficial cuts, allergies, insect bites, or fungal infections such as athlete's foot.^{[citation needed]}

Some common astringent agents include alum, oatmeal, acacia, sage^[2], yarrow, witch hazel, bayberry, distilled vinegar, very cold water, and rubbing alcohol. Astringent preparations include silver nitrate, potassium permanganate, zinc oxide, zinc sulfate, Burow's solution, tincture of benzoin, and vegetable substances such as tannic and gallic acids. Balaustines are the red rose-like flowers of the pomegranate, which are very bitter to the taste. In medicine, its dried form has been used as an astringent.^[3] Some metal salts and acids have also been used as astringents. Eye drops such as Rohto Ice are used as an astringent. In the past, Goulard's Extract was used, but is now discontinued.

Functionality

Functionality

For the growth of bacteria there must be a food supply, moisture, in most cases oxygen, and a certain minimum temperature (see bacteriology). These conditions have been studied and applied in food preservation and the ancient practice of embalming the dead, which is the earliest known systematic use of antiseptics.

In early inquiries, there was much emphasis on the prevention of putrefaction, and procedures were carried out to find how much of an agent must be added to a given solution in order to prevent development of undesirable bacteria. However, for various reasons^[vague], this method was inaccurate, and today an antiseptic is judged by its effect on pure cultures of defined pathogenic celicular single helix microbes and their vegetative and spore forms. The standardization of antiseptics has been implemented in many instances, and a water solution of phenol of a certain fixed strength is now used as the standard to which other antiseptics are compared.

[edit] Some common antiseptics

• Alcohols

  Most commonly used are ethanol (60–90%), 1-propanol (60–70%) and 2-propanol/isopropanol (70–80%) or mixtures of these alcohols. They are commonly referred to as "surgical alcohol". Used to disinfect the skin before injections are given, often along with iodine (tincture of iodine) or some cationic surfactants (benzalkonium chloride 0.05–0.5%, chlorhexidine 0.2–4.0% or octenidine dihydrochloride 0.1–2.0%).

• Quaternary ammonium compounds

  Also known as Quats or QAC's, include the chemicals benzalkonium chloride (BAC), cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTMB), cetylpyridinium chloride (Cetrim, CPC) and benzethonium chloride (BZT). Benzalkonium chloride is used in some pre-operative skin disinfectants (conc. 0.05–0.5%) and antiseptic towels. The antimicrobial activity of Quats is inactivated by anionic surfactants, such as soaps. Related disinfectants include chlorhexidine and octenidine.

• Boric acid

  Used in suppositories to treat yeast infections of the vagina, in eyewashes, and as an antiviral to shorten the duration of cold sore attacks. Put into creams for burns. Also common in trace amounts in eye contact solution.

• Brilliant Green

  A triarylmethane dye still widely used as 1% ethanol solution in Eastern Europe and ex-USSR countries for treatment of small wounds and abscesses. Efficient against gram-positive bacteria.

• Chlorhexidine Gluconate

  A biguanidine derivative, used in concentrations of 0.5–4.0% alone or in lower concentrations in combination with other compounds, such as alcohols. Used as a skin antiseptic and to treat inflammation of the gums (gingivitis). The microbicidal action is somewhat slow, but remanent. It is a cationic surfactant, similar to Quats.

• Hydrogen peroxide

  Used as a 6% (20 Vols) solution to clean and deodorize wounds and ulcers. More common 3% solutions of hydrogen peroxide have been used in household first aid for scrapes, etc. However, even this less potent form is no longer recommended for typical wound care as the strong oxidization causes scar formation and increases healing time.^{[citation needed]} Gentle washing with mild soap and water or rinsing a scrape with sterile saline is a better practice.

• Iodine

  Usually used in an alcoholic solution (called tincture of iodine) or as Lugol's iodine solution as a pre- and post-operative antiseptic. No longer recommended to disinfect minor wounds because it induces scar tissue formation and increases healing time. Gentle washing with mild soap and water or rinsing a scrape with sterile saline is a comparatively better practice. Novel iodine antiseptics containing povidone-iodine (an iodophor, complex of povidone, a water-soluble polymer, with triiodide anions I₃^-, containing about 10% of active iodine) are far better tolerated, don't negatively affect wound healing, and leave a deposit of active iodine, thereby creating the so-called "remnant," or persistent, effect. The great advantage of iodine antiseptics is their wide scope of antimicrobial activity, killing all principal pathogens and, given enough time, even spores, which are considered to be the most difficult form of microorganisms to be inactivated by disinfectants and antiseptics.

• Mercurochrome

  Not recognized as safe and effective by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to concerns about its mercury content. Other obsolete organomercury antiseptics include bis-(phenylmercuric) monohydrogenborate (Famosept).

• Manuka Honey

  Recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a medical device for use in wounds and burns. Active +15 is equal to a 15% solution of phenol.

• Octenidine dihydrochloride

  A cationic surfactant and bis-(dihydropyridinyl)-decane derivative, used in concentrations of 0.1–2.0%. It is similar in its action to the Quats, but is of somewhat broader spectrum of activity. Octenidine is currently increasingly used in continental Europe as a QAC's and chlorhexidine (with respect to its slow action and concerns about the carcinogenic impurity 4-chloroaniline) substitute in water- or alcohol-based skin, mucosa and wound antiseptic. In aqueous formulations, it is often potentiated with addition of 2-phenoxyethanol.

• Phenol (carbolic acid) compounds

  Phenol is germicidal in strong solution, inhibitory in weaker ones. Used as a "scrub" for pre-operative hand cleansing. Used in the form of a powder as an antiseptic baby powder, where it is dusted onto the navel as it heals. Also used in mouthwashes and throat lozenges, where it has a painkilling effect as well as an antiseptic one. Example: TCP. Other phenolic antiseptics include historically important, but today rarely used (sometimes in dental surgery) thymol, today obsolete hexachlorophene, still used triclosan and sodium 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzenesulfonate (Dibromol).

• Sodium chloride

  Used as a general cleanser. Also used as an antiseptic mouthwash. Only a weak antiseptic effect, due to hyperosmolality of the solution above 0.9%.

• Sodium hypochlorite

  Used in the past, diluted, neutralized and combined with boric acid in Dakin's solution.

• Calcium hypochlorite

  Used by Semmelweis, as "chlorinated lime", in his revolutionary efforts against childbed fever.

• Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)

  has antiseptic and disinfectant properties.^[5][6]

• Terpenes

  are the main type of compound found in essential oils, and some have reasonably strong antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties. For example Terpinen-4-ol is found in Tea tree oil.

Spa

The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are especially widespread in Europe and Japan. Day spas are also quite popular, and offer various personal care treatments.

Balneotherapy

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bath in Zetaquira - Boyacá - Colombia

Balneotherapy (from Latin: balneum, "bath") is the treatment of disease by bathing, usually practiced at spas.^[1] While it is considered distinct from hydrotherapy,^[2] there are some overlaps in practice and in underlying principles. Balneotherapy may involve hot or cold water, massage through moving water, relaxation or stimulation. Many mineral waters at spas are rich in particular minerals (silica, sulfur, selenium, radium) which can be absorbed through the skin. Medicinal clays are also widely used, which practice is known as 'fangotherapy'.

Definition and characteristics

The term "balneotherapy" is generally applied to everything relating to spa treatment, including the drinking of waters and the use of hot baths and natural vapor baths, as well as of the various kinds of mud and sand used for hot applications. Balneotherapy refers to the medical use of these spas, as opposed to recreational use. Common minerals found in spa waters are sodium, magnesium, calcium and iron, as well as arsenic, lithium, potassium, manganese, bromine, and iodine. All these may be contained in the peat that is commonly used in preparation of spa waters. Resorts may also add minerals or essential oils to naturally-occurring hot springs. Though balneotherapy commonly refers to mineral baths, the term may also apply to water treatments using regular hot or cold tap water.

Mud-baths are also included in balneotherapy, and the dirt and water used to mix mud baths may also contain minerals which are thought to have beneficial properties.

Treatment of diseases

Treatment bath at a spa in Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States

Balneotherapy may be recommended for wide range of illnesses, including arthritis,^[3] skin conditions and fibromyalgia.^[4] As with any medical treatment, balneotherapy should be discussed with a physician before beginning treatment, since a number of conditions, like heart disease and pregnancy, can result in a serious adverse reaction.

Scientific studies into the effectiveness of balneotherapy tend to be neutral or positive, finding that balneotherapy provides no effect or a placebo effect, or that there is a positive effect. However, many of these studies suffer from methodological flaws, and so may not be entirely reliable.^[5][6] A 2009 review of all published clinical evidence concluded that, while available data suggest that balneotherapy may be truly associated with improvement in several rheumatological diseases, existing research is not sufficiently strong to draw firm conclusions.^[7]

Dead Sea salt

Salt along the shore of the Dead Sea

Dead Sea salt refers to salt extracted or taken from the Dead Sea. It is a popular ingredient of many common bath products including bath salts, salt scrubs, foot scrubs, body wraps, bath bombs, soaps, and a wide variety of other cosmetic products, including makeup.

The Dead Sea is popular with tourists from all over the world for its reputed therapeutic effects. The water of the Dead Sea is unique, as it has ten times the salt content of other sea water. This allows anyone to easily float on Dead Sea water because of its greater density. Its mineral composition is also different from ocean water since only 12-18% of Dead Sea salt is sodium chloride. A 2006 analysis of a commercial Dead Sea Salt product measured a 2.5% sodium chloride content; by comparison, 97% of the salt in normal ocean water is sodium chloride