title: Protection from visible light by commonly used textiles is not predicted by ultraviolet protection.
abstract: Interest is increasing in the prevention of acute and chronic actinic damage provided by clothing. This interest has focused mainly on protection against ultraviolet irradiation, but it has now also turned to protection against visible light. This change is mainly due to the action spectrum in the visible light range of some photodermatoses and the increasing interest in photodynamic therapy. The ultraviolet protection provided by commercially available textiles can be graded by determining an ultraviolet protection factor. Several methods have already been used to determine the ultraviolet protection factor. The fact that protection from visible light by textiles cannot be predicted by their ultraviolet protection makes the situation more complicated. This study attempts to determine whether or not the ultraviolet protection factor value of a particular textile is a good parameter for gauging its protection in the visible light range and concludes that a protection factor of textile materials against visible light needs to be developed. This development should go beyond the protection factor definition used in this article, which has some limitations, and should take into account the exact action spectrum for which the protection is needed.
authors.affiliation: Photodermatology Unit, University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van den Keybus
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laperre
authors.forename: Rik
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roelandts
mesh_terms: D003116:Color; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011481:Protective Clothing / Q000592:standards*; D013784:Textiles / Q000592:standards*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays