Skin Protection: Sun umbrella vs sunscreen study

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A recent study on sun protection gave new insight about how powerful the sun was when it comes to penetrating right through what people usually think of as protective.

They compared what happened when people sit in the sun under an umbrella versus what happens when people use sunscreen. They wanted to find out which was better for sun protection.

According to the report, the sunscreen was a better blocker. That was, if people were using the right kind.

The study looked at two groups of people. Both had fair skin types and were compared those who spent three and a half hours in the sun.

One group stayed under an SPF beach umbrella, the other wore SPF 100 sunscreen protection. Researchers found that the group covered by the beach umbrella had significantly more sunburn than the group that wore sunscreen. Researchers said that was likely because the sun was powerful enough to go through something such as a beach umbrella. They suggested people use both. They also said people likely need at least an SPF 30 and it needs to be reapplied every few hours.

Previous studies have shown, every burn does damage. Burns can take a great spring break and can make it pretty painful.