Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

Confessions of a hyper sun exposed esthetician - on trips to Canada and the UK I often would stock up on L'Oreal brands packed with Mexoryl SX including Biotherm, Lancome, LaRoche-Posay. Now the borders unite and finally we can get these great UVA blockers in the USA.

The Food and Drug Administration Monday approved a new over-the-counter sunscreen that has a new active ingredient not previously approved for use in the United States. The agency approved Anthelios SX, a moisturizer from L'Oreal that contains ingredients designed to protect against sunburn from and exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet A (UVA) rays from the sun.

Anthelios SX contains a combination of three active ingredients, including avobenzone and octocrylene, standard ingredients in sunscreens already approved for sale in the U.S. The new active ingredient approved for use in the U.S. in the product is ecamsule. Ecamsule has been marketed in Europe and Canada as Mexoryl SX since 1993, the FDA said.

Octocrylene is designed to block UVB rays from the sun, while Avobenzone blocks long UVA rays. The newest ingredient, Ecamsule, or Mexoryl, is designed to block short UVA rays. Anthelios will be available sometime this fall and will be sold by L'Oreal's LaRoche-Posay division.