I have a different perspective on tanning, skin cancer, and those brown spots.
High quality vitamins and minerals prevent cancer. The sun provides vitamin D. Using a high SPF sunscreen full of chemicals that not only damage the skin but that are then absorbed thru the skin all the while preventing the absorption of vitamin D is a prescription for cancer. Recent studies support this.
The sun doesn't cause cancer. The chemicals we ingest thru our food, water and the air we breathe, not to mention the ones we put our skin and hair, along with the lack of high quality vitamins and minerals in our diet causes cancer.
The brown spots are caused from oxidation. It's like rusting from the inside out. Anti-oxidants prevent that from happening, keep us feeling and looking younger and help prevent cancer.
That's my opinion. I know a lot of people feel differently about this.

1. What do I take - internally - to get rid of the brown spots? Name the pill and I'll test the theory. And how does this explain the extreme darkening of melasma with any contact with the sun?

2. Are you saying you let your daughter tan or lay out and do not advise sunscreen at all?

I am just glad I was always kind of a goth, and didn't really get into tanning. My skin is far from perfect, but I know it could be worse.

Carol, I have mixed feelings about sunscreen too. Much of it is toxic, especially to children, and then many others barely work. Check out the good and the bad here: http://tiny.cc/cosmeticsdatabase

I also think it is healthy to get SOME sun. I do wear sunscreen sometimes, but I'm also trying the old fashioned stuff like hats. Anyone know when parasols and gloves are coming back into fashion?

I wear hats AND sunscreen AND sunglasses. I like to think of myself as glam like Elizabeth Taylor. (It would be more glam if I matched more often.)

I don't put it on the rest of my body unless we're at the lake so I figure I'm getting some Vitamin D.

I did read those Vitamin D cancer studies. And it's a good point.

But, it feels like another parenting trap - sun will kill them but so will sunscreen. Screwed either way.

I'm not a sunscreen nut with the kids, I do make them wear it at the lake or pool or out hiking, but not so much just playing in the backyard.

But you know they have parents hauled before CPS for letting kids get sunburned. And I don't want Ainsley's skin to get damaged from sun worshiping.

I totally think you should use it if your kids (or you) are at the pool or on a boat or something like that. That's just common sense. (There are sunscreens that are less toxic than others, like California Baby)

I just don't know if I think every woman has to slather herself with 50 SPF before opening her drapes every morning, you know what i mean? These are chemicals (some toxic) that many women are dipping themselves into EVERY DAY. But I know I'm kind of a hippie that way.

A friend of mine got in big trouble for getting sunburned when she was in the Navy. Her CO told her that she damaged government property!

I think it just takes a little bit of common sense. Wearing a hat and sunglasses should be ok, but I wear sunscreen on my arms and the backs of my hands every time I work in my yard also. When you think about it, according to all the "studies and research" out there, sooner or later everything will give you cancer!
Just my 2 cents.
Mary

I want to answer your questions without writing you a book. I'm going to try.
Our bodies were created to heal themselves. If they have what they need, good food, good water, good air, good exercise, good rest, good thoughts, etc then I believe we can heal anything, from cancer to little brown spots. We all know we have a brand new body every 7 yrs. Some things renew faster, like skin and hair. So if we give our bodies a nurturing environment as the old cells die and go away they will be replaced with healthy cells. The converse is true. It gets harder as we get older. The trick is providing the nurturing environment, not easy with the chemical laden, vitamin and mineral free world we live in. So, yes, I think you can get rid of the brown spots, or prevent more (The Perricone Promise is all about a healthy body that looks healthy) but it takes all the things I mentioned before and then some.
I don't know what melasma is but if your body and skin are healthy then you should be able to minimize the damage.
My children look white. They are actually mixed with American Indian and Black from their dad. So I don't use sunscreen on them, they have mild burns at the beginning of summer if they spend all day in the sun, but the burn is gone in a day, their skin gets very tan in the summer but I think it's a healthy tan, and No, my daughter doesn't lay out to tan, she would be bored out of her mind, she is extremely active. If we go to the pool she's the first in and the last out. So tanning won't be an issue for her.

I have a different perspective on tanning, skin cancer, and those brown spots.
High quality vitamins and minerals prevent cancer. The sun provides vitamin D. Using a high SPF sunscreen full of chemicals that not only damage the skin but that are then absorbed thru the skin all the while preventing the absorption of vitamin D is a prescription for cancer. Recent studies support this.
The sun doesn't cause cancer. The chemicals we ingest thru our food, water and the air we breathe, not to mention the ones we put our skin and hair, along with the lack of high quality vitamins and minerals in our diet causes cancer.
The brown spots are caused from oxidation. It's like rusting from the inside out. Anti-oxidants prevent that from happening, keep us feeling and looking younger and help prevent cancer.
That's my opinion. I know a lot of people feel differently about this.

1. What do I take - internally - to get rid of the brown spots? Name the pill and I'll test the theory. And how does this explain the extreme darkening of melasma with any contact with the sun?

2. Are you saying you let your daughter tan or lay out and do not advise sunscreen at all?

I am just glad I was always kind of a goth, and didn't really get into tanning. My skin is far from perfect, but I know it could be worse.

Carol, I have mixed feelings about sunscreen too. Much of it is toxic, especially to children, and then many others barely work. Check out the good and the bad here: http://tiny.cc/cosmeticsdatabase

I also think it is healthy to get SOME sun. I do wear sunscreen sometimes, but I'm also trying the old fashioned stuff like hats. Anyone know when parasols and gloves are coming back into fashion?

I wear hats AND sunscreen AND sunglasses. I like to think of myself as glam like Elizabeth Taylor. (It would be more glam if I matched more often.)

I don't put it on the rest of my body unless we're at the lake so I figure I'm getting some Vitamin D.

I did read those Vitamin D cancer studies. And it's a good point.

But, it feels like another parenting trap - sun will kill them but so will sunscreen. Screwed either way.

I'm not a sunscreen nut with the kids, I do make them wear it at the lake or pool or out hiking, but not so much just playing in the backyard.

But you know they have parents hauled before CPS for letting kids get sunburned. And I don't want Ainsley's skin to get damaged from sun worshiping.

I totally think you should use it if your kids (or you) are at the pool or on a boat or something like that. That's just common sense. (There are sunscreens that are less toxic than others, like California Baby)

I just don't know if I think every woman has to slather herself with 50 SPF before opening her drapes every morning, you know what i mean? These are chemicals (some toxic) that many women are dipping themselves into EVERY DAY. But I know I'm kind of a hippie that way.

A friend of mine got in big trouble for getting sunburned when she was in the Navy. Her CO told her that she damaged government property!

I think it just takes a little bit of common sense. Wearing a hat and sunglasses should be ok, but I wear sunscreen on my arms and the backs of my hands every time I work in my yard also. When you think about it, according to all the "studies and research" out there, sooner or later everything will give you cancer!
Just my 2 cents.
Mary

I want to answer your questions without writing you a book. I'm going to try.
Our bodies were created to heal themselves. If they have what they need, good food, good water, good air, good exercise, good rest, good thoughts, etc then I believe we can heal anything, from cancer to little brown spots. We all know we have a brand new body every 7 yrs. Some things renew faster, like skin and hair. So if we give our bodies a nurturing environment as the old cells die and go away they will be replaced with healthy cells. The converse is true. It gets harder as we get older. The trick is providing the nurturing environment, not easy with the chemical laden, vitamin and mineral free world we live in. So, yes, I think you can get rid of the brown spots, or prevent more (The Perricone Promise is all about a healthy body that looks healthy) but it takes all the things I mentioned before and then some.
I don't know what melasma is but if your body and skin are healthy then you should be able to minimize the damage.
My children look white. They are actually mixed with American Indian and Black from their dad. So I don't use sunscreen on them, they have mild burns at the beginning of summer if they spend all day in the sun, but the burn is gone in a day, their skin gets very tan in the summer but I think it's a healthy tan, and No, my daughter doesn't lay out to tan, she would be bored out of her mind, she is extremely active. If we go to the pool she's the first in and the last out. So tanning won't be an issue for her.