Sun Conference – meeting the UVA challenge

Published: 3-Aug-2011

The 11th London Sun Protection Conference took place from 8-9 June 2011. Presentations from companies including BASF, DSM, Croda and Dermatest discussed challenges surrounding UVA and SPF testing and labelling criteria, the importance of photostability and the latest advances in UV filters.

The 11th London Sun Protection Conference (8-9 June 2011) provided much food for thought on how we can meet the UVA challenge in the future. Julian Hewitt reports

Over 160 delegates gathered at the Royal College of Physicians for the 11th London Sun Protection Conference (organised by Summit Events), subtitled The UVA Challenge. As conference chairman Jack Ferguson (Skinnovation Ltd) pointed out in his opening address, our knowledge of UVA damage and the need for UVA protection has grown considerably since the first conference in this series was held 20 years ago.

Back then, sun protection was focused almost entirely on UVB protection, to prevent sunburn, and most sunscreen products offered little or no UVA protection. In the UK, the Boots UVA star rating system had just been introduced, and most countries had no protocols for UVA testing and labelling. Since then, considerable strides have been made, with the development of new UVA filters and advances in metal oxide technologies, adoption of standard UVA test methods and labelling criteria, appreciation of the importance of photostability, and regulatory developments that compel the inclusion of UVA protection in sun care products. However, a number of questions and challenges remain, and the varied programme of the conference sought to address them.

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