The historical aspects of sunscreens

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Abstract

While there is little literature on the way in which people protected themselves against the sun, evidence from paintings suggest that clothing covering the body, veils and large brim hats were used by ancient Greeks, and that umbrellas existed in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India. Veiel in 1887 (Vierteljahresschr. Derm. Syph. 14, 113–116) was able to protect a patient with eczema solare by the use of a tightly woven red veil. In 1889, Widmark (Über den Einfluss des Lichtes auf die Haut. Hygiea, Festband #3, Samson and Wallin, Stockholm) used acidified quinine sulfate to absorb UVB, apparently because, since quinine fluoresces when irradiated with UVR, he rightly assumed that it would absorb the short wavelengths. In 1891, Hammer (Über den Enfluss des Lichtes auf die Haut, Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart) repeated Widmark’s experiments and used quinine prepared in lotion or ointment as the first human sunscreen. Various plant extracts had been used at the turn of the century in folk medicine. One of the most effective was a chestnut extract from which aesculin was derived. Unna (Med. Klinik. 1911;7:454–456) developed several glycosides of aesculin,which were introduced as Zeozon and Ultrazeozon. In 1922, Eder and Freund (Wiener. Klin. Wchnschr. 35, 681–684) introduced 2-naphthol-6,8-disulfonic acid salts (Antilux) which were quite effective in both the UVB and UVA region. Over the next 40 years a number of different chemicals were introduced for sunscreen purposes: tannic acid (1925), benzyl salicylate (1931), para-aminobenzoic acid derivatives and 2-phenylimidazole derivatives (1942), anthranilic acid (1950), various cinnamates (1954), chloroquine (1962), benzophenones (1965) and many more since then. The list of chemical useful for sunscreen formulation is now extensive, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Community have published compendia of approved chemicals and inorganic filters.

Introduction

Somewhere along the path of human origin, our antecedents climbed down from the trees, left the darkness of the tropical forest and advanced onto the open steppes. When they had lost most of their pelage, the early travelers must have noted that the warmth of sunlight was all too often followed by the painful heat of inflamed skin.

Section snippets

The ancients

There is little literature on the way in which ancient people protected themselves against the sun. For millenia, clothing was related to the local climate. About 5000 years BC weaving was discovered, and in Egypt cotton, wool and flax was made into cloth. In India mostly cotton was used. Evidence from paintings shows that in tropical countries only parts of the body were covered by clothing (dhoti, the brief skirt of the Egyptians) but that also more extensive coverings, particularly of women

The discovery of the effects of ultraviolet radiation

Spectral radiations outside the narrow band of visible light were discovered by Sir William Herschel, who in 1800 found that a thermometer registered a higher temperature beyond the visible red end of the spectrum than within it [1], and by Ritter who in 1801 showed stronger chemical action on silver chloride below the visible end of the spectrum [2]. That light has harmful as well as salutary effects has been known since antiquity. Xenophon, describing the sufferings of Cyrus’ soldiers in the

Sunscreens — the early days

In 1891 Hammer published an interesting monograph on the influence of light on the skin [11]. In that he reviewed the accumulated evidence that erythema solare was primarily due to the effects of UVR. He repeated some of Widmark’s experiments, in particular on the protective effects of quinine. He was the first to specifically recommend the use of chemical sunscreens: ‘Materials which prevent UVR from reaching the skin protect it from erythema solare.’ By the end of the 19th Century, a number

Sunscreens — modern development

The most successful of the early 20th Century sunscreens was certainly ‘Ambre Solaire’. In 1935, Eugene Schueller [24] prepared a sunscreen containing benzyl salicylate as UVR absorber in an oily vehicle. Schueller, who founded the company known today as L’Oreal, was a master of publicity. He used the then new radio programs and billboards. After WWII, a tanned skin became synonymous with health. Schueller produced posters of tanned girls, apparently among the first to wear a bikini swimsuit

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