July 7, 2025 • 4 mins
Dr. Laura Snyder, Primary Care Provider at Corewell Health joins us to discuss the health benefits of using sunscreen and when it is time to replace your expired sunscreen.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, let's get the latest done. Protection from the sun
in dangers if you don't. This is West Michigan's Morning
News Steek Kelly and Brett Mekita. Doctor Laura Snyder is
a primary care provider with Corwell Health. On the liveline
with us, doctor, thanks for doing this today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Since I was a kid when we use those little
reflector things and baby oil, We've learned an awful lot
because people my age are now going to dermatologists once
a year, and at the very least they're having procedures
to stop stuff before it gets worse, right, So talk
to us a little bit about the dangers of the sun.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah. So about one in five Americans will end up
being diagnosed with in cancer at some point, and well,
seeing your dermatologists can be important. It's even better to
prevent those cancers from starting by using sun protection.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, And to that end, talk to us a little
bit about this stuff that's out there now. And it's
important to know too. You can't keep it for years
and years and years if you don't use it all
up exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So on sunscreen that you have has an expiration date.
Most of the time it will be written on the bottle,
but if not, it's not recommended to use it for
more than three years after you've bought the sunscreen.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And doctor Snyder, both my wife and I go regularly
a dermatologist, and one of the things that they'll tell you,
correct me if I'm wrong, is you've got to start
at a young age because the damage that you do sometimes,
like Steve said back in the day, you know, college,
putting baby oil on stuff that will stay with you
and affect you to the rest of your life. Right,
So you've got to protect your kids early.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Exactly, blistering sunburns at a young age or one of
the biggest risk factors for developing skin cancer later. But
also that long term sun exposure that just adds up
over the years is also a risk factor not only
for skin cancer but also for wrinkles for other types
of sun damage. So sunscreen is important, and also it's
(01:58):
important to use other types of sun protection such as
hats such as sun shirts, or just avoiding the funnel
together and sitting in the shade.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
How effective is a high SPF compared to maybe putting
the stuff on. Again, our problem with and I'd mentioned
before bottom of the hour news. We've got two redheads,
and when we were all on vacation, one of them
got a little pink and it was with the spray stuff,
so it was kind of windy, and it wasn't I'm like,
(02:29):
get it on so you can see it and then
go from there exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
The spray screens tend to be convenient for a lot
of parents because you have a kid stand there and
you spray it on, but they're not always good and
knowing if you've got enough sunscreen on you to know
that you had enough sunscreen on your body, you want
to use about an ounce, which is two tablespoons worth
or what fits in a standard shot class. I don't
(02:56):
love using that comparison, but two tablespoons will be a
better one, and then you want it to be reapplying
it every two hours or if you've been in water,
even when it's the waterproof sunscreen and something like SPF
thirty or higher is sufficient for most folks, and that
will protect you ninety seven percent against the sun rays,
(03:18):
and you want to make sure that that is protecting
against UVA and UVB rays. The sunscreen will say something
like broad spectrum protection on it, and that is how
you know, it protects against all of those in rays.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Doctor. It's funny when I hear people and friends that
go to tropical places, maybe for spring break or for
the summer. You know, Mexico can Kun was one for me.
I feel like I am the PSA for sunscreen because
I went down there right out of college with a
buddy to cane kun. And to Steve's point, I'd never
seen anything above fifty as far as SBF. Well, they
(03:54):
started like seventy five down there, and I'm like, why
is that. I went to Florida for years. Oh, closer
to the equator obviously the sun intensity and everything else.
But I always tell people that I are going there
for the first time. Hey, don't even buy your sunscreen here.
Buy it down there because it'll start at a higher
level and you'll need it. Trust me, I mean, crank
it up seventy five or one hundred. You're still going
(04:14):
to get tan just because they don't have the education
right exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And there's also different types of sunscreen. There's chemical sunscreens,
and then there's also barrier sunscreen. You think of the
old zinc oxide that you will put on your nose
and look kind of silly. So they have those same
barrier sunscreen these days that don't make you look ridiculous,
but they protect you even more effectively than some of
(04:39):
the chemical sunscreens. So those are things that you can
look and you can talk to your primary care doctor
or your dermatologists to find the one that's that's for you.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I had no idea. See, you learned something new every day.
Doctor Laura Schneider, primary care provider at Corwell Health, thank
you for your time today.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, thanks for having me
Well, let's get the latest done. Protection from the sun
in dangers if you don't. This is West Michigan's Morning
News Steek Kelly and Brett Mekita. Doctor Laura Snyder is
a primary care provider with Corwell Health. On the liveline
with us, doctor, thanks for doing this today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Since I was a kid when we use those little
reflector things and baby oil, We've learned an awful lot
because people my age are now going to dermatologists once
a year, and at the very least they're having procedures
to stop stuff before it gets worse, right, So talk
to us a little bit about the dangers of the sun.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah. So about one in five Americans will end up
being diagnosed with in cancer at some point, and well,
seeing your dermatologists can be important. It's even better to
prevent those cancers from starting by using sun protection.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, And to that end, talk to us a little
bit about this stuff that's out there now. And it's
important to know too. You can't keep it for years
and years and years if you don't use it all
up exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So on sunscreen that you have has an expiration date.
Most of the time it will be written on the bottle,
but if not, it's not recommended to use it for
more than three years after you've bought the sunscreen.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And doctor Snyder, both my wife and I go regularly
a dermatologist, and one of the things that they'll tell you,
correct me if I'm wrong, is you've got to start
at a young age because the damage that you do sometimes,
like Steve said back in the day, you know, college,
putting baby oil on stuff that will stay with you
and affect you to the rest of your life. Right,
So you've got to protect your kids early.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Exactly, blistering sunburns at a young age or one of
the biggest risk factors for developing skin cancer later. But
also that long term sun exposure that just adds up
over the years is also a risk factor not only
for skin cancer but also for wrinkles for other types
of sun damage. So sunscreen is important, and also it's
(01:58):
important to use other types of sun protection such as
hats such as sun shirts, or just avoiding the funnel
together and sitting in the shade.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
How effective is a high SPF compared to maybe putting
the stuff on. Again, our problem with and I'd mentioned
before bottom of the hour news. We've got two redheads,
and when we were all on vacation, one of them
got a little pink and it was with the spray stuff,
so it was kind of windy, and it wasn't I'm like,
(02:29):
get it on so you can see it and then
go from there exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
The spray screens tend to be convenient for a lot
of parents because you have a kid stand there and
you spray it on, but they're not always good and
knowing if you've got enough sunscreen on you to know
that you had enough sunscreen on your body, you want
to use about an ounce, which is two tablespoons worth
or what fits in a standard shot class. I don't
(02:56):
love using that comparison, but two tablespoons will be a
better one, and then you want it to be reapplying
it every two hours or if you've been in water,
even when it's the waterproof sunscreen and something like SPF
thirty or higher is sufficient for most folks, and that
will protect you ninety seven percent against the sun rays,
(03:18):
and you want to make sure that that is protecting
against UVA and UVB rays. The sunscreen will say something
like broad spectrum protection on it, and that is how
you know, it protects against all of those in rays.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Doctor. It's funny when I hear people and friends that
go to tropical places, maybe for spring break or for
the summer. You know, Mexico can Kun was one for me.
I feel like I am the PSA for sunscreen because
I went down there right out of college with a
buddy to cane kun. And to Steve's point, I'd never
seen anything above fifty as far as SBF. Well, they
(03:54):
started like seventy five down there, and I'm like, why
is that. I went to Florida for years. Oh, closer
to the equator obviously the sun intensity and everything else.
But I always tell people that I are going there
for the first time. Hey, don't even buy your sunscreen here.
Buy it down there because it'll start at a higher
level and you'll need it. Trust me, I mean, crank
it up seventy five or one hundred. You're still going
(04:14):
to get tan just because they don't have the education
right exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And there's also different types of sunscreen. There's chemical sunscreens,
and then there's also barrier sunscreen. You think of the
old zinc oxide that you will put on your nose
and look kind of silly. So they have those same
barrier sunscreen these days that don't make you look ridiculous,
but they protect you even more effectively than some of
(04:39):
the chemical sunscreens. So those are things that you can
look and you can talk to your primary care doctor
or your dermatologists to find the one that's that's for you.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I had no idea. See, you learned something new every day.
Doctor Laura Schneider, primary care provider at Corwell Health, thank
you for your time today.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, thanks for having me
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