Army Veteran Michael Kerwin created a sunscreen with a UV light built-in to the top of the packaging bottle, allowing users to assess the spots they missed, as the hands, neck and feet are a few of the body parts often neglected during sunscreen coverage. The light also lets users monitor when it's time to reapply. He calls it YouV sunscreen.
The blacklight-activated sunscreen helps simplify accurate application outside, indoors or in the shade, protecting against UVA and UVB rays—the two leading causes of sun-related skin damage, per a July 19 press release. YouV was created with the intent to make sun protection more visual and reliable, as it can be easy to forget to reapply and miss certain areas on accident.
Kerwin says like many adults, he struggles to fully apply sunscreen everywhere, and forgets when to reapply, as many adults, who have children or are outside having fun, don’t exactly track when they last applied sunscreen. He says he didn't realize how detrimental the sun could be until a family member of his developed skin cancer.
“I became extremely conscious of the adverse effects that sun can have on your skin and your life,” he says.
Skin cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the U.S., with about 1 in 5 people developing skin cancer at some point in their life [1]. Sun protection is crucial all year round, especially for individuals who've undergone an aesthetic treatment. Kerwin says despite this statistic, the basic formula of sunscreen has seen little innovation.
“I was always trying to think of new ideas to make sunscreen better; whether making it easier to apply, seeing where you can apply or making the application process easier,” he says. “I settled that missing spots on the sunscreen application [and] reapplication process was a significant problem for people and a large cause for sunburns.”
The idea for this invention began during his time at the United States Military Academy for college, and while serving as an Army Infantry Officer, he witnessed how soldiers did not prioritize sunscreen and experienced many skin problems such as skin cancer or significant aging.
He started to experiment with different solutions while working nights and weekends and found that the best way to check sunscreen application is using UV light and fluorescence. The final product, YouV, launched summer 2025.
Formulated with non-toxic ingredients, he says YouV is a mineral-based sunscreen containing zinc oxide and titanium dioxide—natural and non-synthetic ingredients that protect against UVA and UVB [2].
“While I'm proud of the launch, there are various product improvements and different versions that I'm excited to release in the future to make sunscreen application even easier,” Kerwin says “…The long term UV exposure effects are becoming known, …[and YouV] provides another element of accountability and trust.”
References:
1-https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15818-skin-cancer
