Is how much you prevent sun damage and how much less you get tan and vitamin D an exact trade off?

Question

I know the more sunblock you put on the less you tan, but is the mechanism of tanning purely determined by what those sunblocks are blocking?

As in let's say you take a small area of skin that sunlight is bouncing off of and is totally covered by such a lotion, and let's say the sunblock reduces the amount of UV rays that get through by 90% (I don't what the percentages are). Is tanning also reduced by 90%, or can you still get tan and without doing the sun damages, or at least to a lesser degree?

(If I can do anything to improve the quality of this question, or if I should/could be posting it elsewhere, please let me know.)

Hi user3146, welcome to Medical Sciences. Questions here (like many science SE sites) are required to show results of prior research. As described in the help center and this meta post, this demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to try to help yourself, saves us from reiterating obvious answers, and helps you get more specific and relevant answers. Please [edit] your question with links to or references to what you've found already in your search. — Ian Campbell, Mar 25 '22 at 21:00
Additionally, it seems like your question mostly focuses on "tanning", but then the question of vitamin D is thrown in the title and the first sentence. It would be helpful to limit your question to one topic. — Ian Campbell, Mar 25 '22 at 21:03
See also: https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/q/13492/7951 — Chris Rogers, Mar 26 '22 at 06:36

Is how much you prevent sun damage and how much less you get tan and vitamin D an exact trade off?

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