SUN PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN: HOW TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE

The skin of newborns and children has not had time to develop adequate defences and must be protected from the sun with all due caution. To give it the best protection, it is important to know how to choose the right form of suncare for children.

Children’s skin is more delicate than adult skin, because their epidermis is finer and the hydrolipidic film has not fully developed. These characteristics mean that the skin’s barrier function, i.e. its capacity as a “shield”, is lower than an adult's. Therefore, a child’s skin is more susceptible to dehydration and dryness, as well as being more vulnerable to external aggressors.

Fragile and undeveloped, infantile skin needs special care when it comes to the sun too. This is particularly true for newborns, whose defence system — in terms of the melanocytes which produce melanin — is not yet developed. This means that their skin is not capable of defending itself from the sun.

For these reasons, newborns and small children are more sensitive to the damaging effects of the sun’s rays, both in the short- and long-term.

Therefore, to prevent the damage caused by exposure to the sun, it is extremely important to use sun protection for children, particularly very young children.

HOW DO I CHOOSE THE RIGHT SUN PROTECTION FACTOR FOR CHILDREN?