image of barnstable county courthouse

Some shoppers confused about how to choose sunscreen

Most people know it’s important to use sunscreen, but they’re sometimes confused about how to choose the right protection or how much to use, a small study suggests.

Researchers surveyed people treated at a dermatology clinic last year and found almost all of them had bought sunscreen in 2013. Fewer than half, however, could correctly identify the terms on the labels that indicated how well the product protected against skin cancer and sunburns.

Shoppers should be looking for two things on sunscreen labels, said lead study author Dr. Roopal Kundu, a dermatology researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.