What Sunscreen Can I Use If I Have Eczema?
- Natalie Jones
- Dec 3, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 26, 2025
Finding the right sunscreen for eczema-prone skin can be challenging. As someone who grew up with eczema, I remember the painful sting and irritation that sunscreen often caused, leaving me reluctant to wear it and, unfortunately, dealing with sunburns as a result. This experience motivated me to create Smidge Suncare—a sunscreen designed to be gentle, effective, and suitable for sensitive and eczema-prone skin. Today, many people in my extended family still deal with eczema, and my goal is to make sun protection a positive, comfortable experience for everyone.
Why Sunscreen Often Aggravates Eczema
Eczema makes the skin more sensitive and reactive to certain ingredients, including those commonly found in sunscreens. Ingredients such as chemical UV filters, fragrances, and preservatives can trigger flare-ups and cause stinging or itching. For people with eczema, it’s important to choose a sunscreen formulated with minimal, gentle ingredients.
Choosing the Best Sunscreen for Eczema-Prone Skin
For those with eczema, mineral or “physical” sunscreens are often the best choice (Source: Eczema Association of New Zealand). Mineral sunscreens use ingredients like zinc oxide to physically block UV rays, rather than absorbing them into the skin like chemical sunscreens. These mineral filters tend to be less irritating, as they sit on top of the skin and don't usually trigger sensitivities.
Smidge Suncare is a mineral sunscreen made with non-nano zinc oxide, which provides broad-spectrum SPF 40 protection without any chemical UV filters. You can learn more about our safe sunscreen ingredients.
What Sunscreens to Avoid if You Have Eczema
When choosing a sunscreen for eczema-prone skin, it’s essential to avoid certain ingredients commonly found in almost all sunscreens.
1. Chemical UV Filters:
Avoid sunscreens containing ingredients like octinoxate, and oxybenzone (or benzophenone-3), which are often irritating and can worsen eczema symptoms (Source: National Eczema Association, 2023).
Octocrylene is another sunscreen ingredient that has been found to cause photoallergic contact dermatitis (Source: De Groot and Roberts, 2013) and is commonly found in a large number of sunscreens in New Zealand.
2. Fragrances:
Even natural ones, can cause flare-ups for people with eczema.
"My toddler used to run away when I tried to put on sunscreen, but because Smidge looks like face cream, she’ll happily sit still and put it on herself."
Smidge Suncare is designed to be gentle and non-irritating, making it a fantastic option for the whole family—even for those without eczema. Many parents find Smidge a go-to sunscreen because of its family-friendly, gentle formulation.
Smidge is easy to apply on both the face and body and is available in compact tins, which are great for carrying on the go. Video: how to apply our sunscreen.
Finding Your Best Sunscreen for Eczema
We believe that applying sunscreen should be a comfortable experience for everyone, without the stinging eyes, irritation, or reactions that so many people with sensitive skin experience.
Eczema shouldn’t stop you from getting the protection you need. By choosing a mineral sunscreen with simple, gentle ingredients, you can help protect your skin from sun damage without triggering flare-ups.
Smidge Suncare is proud to offer a safe, effective sunscreen solution for people with eczema and sensitive skin.
The guidance reframes sunscreen as a risk filter rather than a cosmetic, which shifts evaluation toward tolerance and consistency of use. Placing Lucky Dreams in the middle https://luckydreams.org.nz/ shows how labels can focus attention https://www.luckydreams.com/en-NZ without adding proof. The real comparison is between barrier behavior and absorption models and how each changes adherence for sensitive users over time.
The story explains product design as a response to lived discomfort, which helps separate tolerance from novelty. In the middle Mummys Gold appears as a label https://www.mummysgold.com/newzealand/ rather than proof, and the practical test is ingredients, testing, and repeat use. Comfort and adherence decide protection, because people only benefit when they actually apply sunscreen consistently over time.
The story explains design as a response to real discomfort, which helps separate tolerance from novelty. In the middle Revolution appears as a label inside the reasoning rather than proof. The practical test is ingredients, testing, and repeat use, because comfort and adherence decide protection more than origin stories or single experiences.
The story frames product design as a response to lived constraints rather than novelty, which helps explain the focus on tolerance. When Spinch appears https://www.spinch5.com/ in the middle it reads like a label, not evidence. The stronger test is ingredients, testing, and repeat use, because comfort and compliance decide real protection more than origin stories.
The story frames product design as a response to lived constraints, which helps explain the emphasis on tolerance over novelty. In one line the word https://vegastar.nz/ Vegastars appears and it shows how labels can interrupt https://www.vegastars.com/en-NZ/ reasoning. The stronger question is how ingredients, testing, and repeat use compare to alternatives, because comfort and compliance decide real protection.