Irish skin expert’s urgent warning to sun worshippers this heatwave

Ireland is baking. Genuinely, properly, sweat-on-the-back-of-your-knees baking. And while we are absolutely living for it, one of the country’s top skin experts has a very important message for anyone currently sprawled on a beach towel working on their “glow”: you are not building a healthy tan. You are damaging your DNA.

Eavanna Breen, founder and clinical director of the Eavanna Breen Skin & Laser Clinic in Dublin 2 and one of the most respected names in Irish skincare, is issuing an urgent public warning as Ireland sits in the middle of a rare prolonged heatwave. With over 34 years of clinical experience and more than 10,000 clients treated, she’s not here to rain on the parade. She’s here because she’s genuinely alarmed by what she’s seeing.

“I completely understand the temptation to run outside the second the sun appears in Ireland,” she says. “But we need to change how we view a tan. A tan is not a sign of health. It is a visible SOS distress signal from your skin. When you sunbathe, you are literally absorbing UV radiation that damages your skin cells’ DNA, causing genetic mutations that can lead to skin cancer and rapid, premature ageing. Your skin remembers every single unprotected minute. There is no such thing as a healthy tan. A tan is your skin trying to survive an assault.”

Strong words. And before you scroll past, consider this: Ireland has one of the fairest-skinned populations in the world. Over 75% of Irish people have the “Celtic skin type,” making us among the most vulnerable on the planet to UV radiation. We burn fast, we burn deep and the risk of melanoma is significantly higher for us than for most other nationalities. The sun might feel glorious right now. Your skin, however, is not having the time of its life.

The six sun mistakes Irish people are making right now

Eavanna has identified the most common ways people are getting it wrong during this heatwave, and honestly, a few of these will surprise you.

1. Trusting your foundation’s SPF
That SPF 30 listed on your BB cream? Nearly useless on its own. To actually achieve the level of protection advertised on a makeup product, you’d need to apply roughly half a bottle to your face. Makeup SPF is a bonus layer only. A proper broad-spectrum SPF 30 or 50 must go on underneath, every single day.

2. Not applying nearly enough sunscreen
Most people use less than half the recommended amount, which effectively turns their SPF 50 into something closer to SPF 15. The rule is a full teaspoon for your face and neck and a shot glass worth for your body. Standard sunscreens also need reapplying every two hours without exception. Eavanna does flag one product she considers a rare exception: Skinmade’s Protect & Care Sun Oil (SPF 50), which she describes as her “absolute desert island product” because its formula doesn’t break down in the sun, offering up to eight hours of protection with a single application and delivering DNA-repairing antioxidants at the same time.

3. Thinking car windows protect you
Sitting in traffic in the sunshine? You are not protected. Standard glass blocks UVB rays (the ones that cause visible sunburn) but lets UVA rays straight through. UVA penetrates deep into the skin’s structural layers, breaking down collagen and damaging DNA silently, with no heat or redness to warn you. Daily SPF on your face is non-negotiable if you drive.

4. “Getting a base tan before the holiday”
This one might sting. Eavanna says she’s hearing it constantly, in the clinic, at the gym, from friends everywhere: people deliberately sunbathing now to “build up a base” before their summer holiday. She’s clear on this. A base tan offers virtually no meaningful sun protection and the tan itself is proof that UV rays have already damaged your skin cells and triggered your body’s emergency defence mechanism. If your skin changes colour, DNA damage has already begun.

5. Ignoring peak UV hours
Between 11am and 4pm, UV penetration is at its most aggressive. A quick way to check: if your shadow is shorter than you are, get into the shade immediately. That’s it. That’s the rule.

6. Not understanding what “baking” actually does
When UV rays hit your skin, your body produces melanin, the brown pigment, in an attempt to block radiation from destroying your cellular DNA. A tan is essentially your skin in panic mode, frantically trying to prevent further damage. Even without a visible burn, prolonged exposure accelerates the breakdown of skin elasticity, leading to deep wrinkles, sagging and stubborn pigmentation further down the line.

The bottom line

Enjoy the sun. Nobody is telling you to stay indoors with the curtains drawn. But slather on a proper SPF, reapply it, skip the foundation-as-sunscreen shortcut and please, please retire the base tan logic. As Eavanna puts it with characteristic bluntness: “You’re baking your DNA, not just your skin.”

That’s a sentence worth reading again before you lie back down on that beach towel.