Sunscreens Safe For Fungal Acne: The Best Protection For All Skin Types

Fun­gal Acne Safe Sunscreen Ah, sum­mer! Although its “for­mal” arrival isn’t for a while yet – that’s June 21st – the days are get­ting warmer as each week pass­es by. Get­ting out in the fresh air for a dai­ly walk or run is one of the best ways to stay fit and healthy. But as the weath­er warms, it’s also time to start think­ing about pro­tect­ing your skin from the dam­ag­ing effects of the sun’s rays. As the days grow longer and the heat inten­si­fies, your com­plex­ion needs plen­ty of sun­screen to guard against fine lines, dry­ness and oth­er prob­lems exac­er­bat­ed by that won­der­ful sunshine. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true once you begin spend­ing a lot of time out­side – tak­ing the fam­i­ly to a local park or beach, for exam­ple, to enjoy a swim and a pic­nic. If you have acne of any kind, but par­tic­u­lar­ly fun­gal acne, be sure the prod­uct you’re using to guard against the sun’s dam­age is safe for your skin. (In med­ical cir­cles, the con­di­tion we call fun­gal acne is called Pity­rospo­rum Fol­li­culi­tis.) What are the best sun­screens to use if you’re bat­tling fun­gal acne? We won­dered too, so in this arti­cle, we sug­gest some of the finest prod­ucts on the mar­ket right now for pro­tect­ing your skin in the sun if you’re deal­ing with this. But first, let’s talk about what fun­gal acne is, how to tell if that’s what you’ve got, and what caus­es it. Then, we’ll get to the good stuff – pro­tect­ing your com­plex­ion so you can enjoy all the glo­ri­ous sun­shine this time of year offers.

What Is Fungal Acne?

This con­di­tion shares some things in com­mon with “reg­u­lar” acne, such as its ten­den­cy to wors­en if the skin isn’t kept clean. How­ev­er, fun­gal acne is relat­ed to a yeast called Malessezia fur­fur, a mouth­ful of a term for a very com­mon organ­ism that lives on every­one’s skin. Prob­lems arise when the yeast morphs into fun­gal acne, which is caused by too much of the yeast clog­ging tiny hair fol­li­cles all over your face and body.

How Do You Know You’ve Got Fungal Acne?

The best way to know if you’ve got this prob­lem is by vis­it­ing your doc­tor or a der­ma­tol­o­gist, as she can diag­nose it accu­rate­ly. If you notice any of the fol­low­ing symp­toms, it’s prob­a­bly time to make an appointment.

- Your Skin Itches

Fun­gal acne caus­es itch­i­ness – a very unpleas­ant aspect of those clogged hair fol­li­cles. For­tu­nate­ly, it isn’t painful, suf­fer­ers say, which is a relief. It’s impor­tant to keep your hands off your face at all times and fol­low a rig­or­ous clean­ing reg­i­men twice daily.

- There Are Rows Of Small, Red Bumps

Fun­gal acne looks dif­fer­ent than typ­i­cal acne, which may cause uneven blem­ish­es, such as black­heads and pim­ples filled with flu­id. Fun­gal acne most­ly appears on the cheeks and in rows on your fore­head and chin, but it may also appear on your back and chest.

- The Usual Treatments Don’t Work

Have you had acne break­outs in the past, and cer­tain treat­ments reduced it, but this time those treat­ments don’t work? That’s a tell­tale sign that you like­ly have fun­gal acne. Remem­ber, it’s caused by yeast, so it won’t respond to the com­mon acne solu­tions you may have pre­vi­ous­ly used suc­cess­ful­ly. Your best bet is to apply a top­i­cal anti-fun­gal cream from the phar­ma­cy. But if it per­sists, call your physician.

How To Protect Yourself In The Sun?

Here’s a roundup of prod­ucts rec­om­mend­ed by experts for pro­tect­ing your face and neck when head­ing out­doors. Heat, humid­i­ty and sweat all make fun­gal acne worse, so remem­ber to keep your face clean and reap­ply sun­screen after exercise. After a vig­or­ous run, a swim or even a brisk walk, take a bit of time to lay­er on some extra pro­tec­tion – in fact, you should reap­ply sun­screen every two hours, even if you’re relax­ing on a blan­ket hav­ing a pic­nic. (Prices list­ed here may vary, depend­ing on whether an item is on sale and ship­ping charges). There are two types of sun­screen on the mar­ket – min­er­al and chem­i­cal. Each type has ben­e­fits and draw­backs. How­ev­er, accord­ing to experts, min­er­al sun­screen will be kinder to your skin if you’re deal­ing with fun­gal acne, so be sure you read the label before buy­ing. Also, research indi­cates that min­er­al sun­screens are more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friendly.

1- Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Oxide Dry-Touch Mineral Sunscreen

This prod­uct offers an SPF (Sun Pro­tec­tion Fac­tor) of 50, which is plen­ty for even the sun­ni­est days as long as you reap­ply it reg­u­lar­ly. It lends your skin broad spec­trum cov­er­age, and is safe for del­i­cate skin cop­ing with a flare­up of fun­gal acne. Approx­i­mate­ly $25 on Amazon.

2- TiZO (Tinted) Primer/Sunscreen

This prod­uct has the added bonus of being water resis­tant, so it’s a good choice if you’re in the pool or the lake tak­ing fre­quent dips. The SPF is 40, which is good pro­tec­tion, and this prod­uct boasts plen­ty of antiox­i­dants. The tint is very dis­creet – it’s almost like you’ve been kissed by the sun before you went out. Approx­i­mate­ly $43 on Amazon.

3- Elta MD UV Clear Facial Sunscreen

This prod­uct gets rave reviews online from con­sumers fight­ing acne and oth­er skin prob­lems because it’s so gen­tle. It’s excel­lent for sen­si­tive skin, users report, and the 46 SPF makes it ide­al for out­door activ­i­ties. Buy it on Ama­zon for approx­i­mate­ly $39.

4- Anthelios AOX Daily Anti-Oxidant Serum with Sunscreen

This prod­uct by La Roche works well on folks cop­ing with fun­gal acne, con­sumers say. Although this is a chem­i­cal sun­screen rather than a min­er­al one, it’s gen­tle enough for even the most sen­si­tive skin. Fur­ther­more, it goes on in a sheer man­ner that looks and feels great. It is oil-free and non-come­do­genic — in oth­er words, it won’t clog your pores. Der­ma­tol­o­gists rec­om­mend this prod­uct for folks with fun­gal acne because it has loads of antiox­i­dants and vit­a­min C and is kind to the skin even dur­ing break­outs. The SPF is 50, which is plen­ty of pro­tec­tion for vir­tu­al­ly an out­door adven­ture. Approx­i­mate­ly $45 on Amazon.

5- CoTZ Face Natural Skin Tone Healthier Sunscreen

This may not be a brand whose name you rec­og­nize imme­di­ate­ly, but those who use this sun­screen say it’s one of the best on the mar­ket. The com­pa­ny bills it as a “facial primer,” mean­ing it’s slight­ly tint­ed to give you a sun-kissed glow. It has an SPF of 40, and it’s water resis­tant. Avail­able on Ama­zon for approx­i­mate­ly $27.50.

6- Colorescience Sunforgettable Total Protection Face Shield

With an SPF of 50 and loads of anti-aging prop­er­ties, online reviews say this prod­uct offers a one-two punch that is worth the rather hefty price tag. Not only is it safe for those with fun­gal acne, but it also pro­tects against the free rad­i­cals in air pol­lu­tion that harm del­i­cate skin so eas­i­ly and make con­di­tions like acne worse. It is water resis­tant for about 40 min­utes and is safe for all skin types. Avail­able on Ama­zon for approx­i­mate­ly $68.

7- Banana Boat Simply Protect Sunscreen Baby

This com­pa­ny makes a vari­ety of sun­screens, includ­ing this one that’s safe for any­one with fun­gal acne who’s on a bud­get. It resists water and sweat and is mar­ket­ed as a “reef-friend­ly” sun­screen, mean­ing it’s eco-friend­ly. It goes on eas­i­ly and real­ly blocks the sun’s burn­ing rays and mois­tur­izes your skin when you’re out­side. So what if it’s made espe­cial­ly for kids? It works for moms and dads, too! For sale on Ama­zon at approx­i­mate­ly $11.

8- Avene Eu Thermale Very High Sun Protection Mineral Cream

The name says it all – this sun­screen blocks dam­ag­ing rays at an impres­sive 50 SPF. Der­ma­tol­o­gists rec­om­mend it because it’s safe for most skin con­di­tions, includ­ing fun­gal acne. It’s fra­grance and paraben-free, water-resis­tant and reef friend­ly. Avail­able on Ama­zon for approx­i­mate­ly $33.

In Summary

Deal­ing with skin prob­lems is stress­ful. Noth­ing makes it worse than won­der­ing if you’ll aggra­vate the issue by under­tak­ing a favourite out­door pas­time, like a jog in the park or an after­noon of gar­den­ing. But those activ­i­ties are what make spring and sum­mer so enjoy­able! You’ve got to be able to go out­doors with­out wor­ry­ing your com­plex­ion will suffer. Pro­tect your­self by choos­ing the right sun­screen, one that keeps your face safe not only from the sun but also from aging and pol­lu­tion. Once you know which prod­uct is right for you, you’ll be able to do all your favourite activ­i­ties out­side with­out wor­ry­ing whether the sun’s dam­ag­ing rays will harm your com­plex­ion. There is a sun­screen that’s right for you – it’s sim­ply a mat­ter of know­ing what your skin needs. Once you choose a sun­screen that’s safe and nour­ish­ing for your face and won’t make fun­gal acne worse, you’ll be ready to dive into all those great sports, fam­i­ly pur­suits and oth­er joys that the sum­mer sea­son has to offer. Remem­ber: no mat­ter what the activ­i­ty is; the key is hav­ing your sun­screen handy so you’re always pre­pared to reap­ply it. So get out­side and enjoy all that warm sunshine!

*Medical Disclaimer

Please note that all the con­tents appear­ing on our site are the opin­ion of SeizeY­ourLife­To­day and are intend­ed for infor­ma­tion­al and edu­ca­tion­al use only. None of our con­tent is meant to replace reg­u­lar doc­tor vis­its or physi­cian con­sul­ta­tions. If you have a med­ical ques­tion or con­cern, we advise you to speak to a doc­tor as soon as possible. SeizeY­ourLife­To­day and the pub­lish­ers of our con­tent do not claim any lia­bil­i­ty for any dam­ages or health com­pli­ca­tions that may emerge from users fol­low­ing the infor­ma­tion giv­en on our site. All users are advised to speak to their physi­cian or licensed health­care provider before start­ing any diet, tak­ing any sup­ple­ment, or fol­low­ing any rec­om­men­da­tion they find on our site.

Dermatologist’s Favorite Mineral Sunscreens — Dr. Jenny Liu