A skin cancer surgeon at Kent and Canterbury Hospital was inspired to develop a new sunscreen while surfing in South Africa.

Consultant dermatologist Dr Andrew Birnie has created a high-performance budget product in a bid to encourage more people to slap on protection.

The project came about after Andrew, 39, spent a year’s sabbatical in Durban teaching skin cancer surgery and helping to set up a new unit but as he visited the beaches to give surfing a go, he had a chance meeting with another novice surfer, David Westerbeek van Eerten, who had worked for the firm that makes Eucirin and Nivea creams.

Their conversations turned to skin protection and the rather lax attitude of South Africans to the risk.

Andrew said: “He sold products that helped reduce skin cancer and I was treating it, so there was a shared interest.”

After leaving South Africa, they kept in touch and together came up with the idea for a high-quality, but low price, sunscreen to rival the more expensive, fashionable brands.

Working with a leading German formulation scientist, Andrew launched Altruist Dermatologist Sunscreen on Amazon where demand was so high it initially sold out.

It is now being used by Kent cricketers and is also on sale in the shop at the Spitfire ground.

Altruist contains the most advanced filter available, Tinosorb A2B, to provide protection across the whole UVA/UVB spectrum.

Together with other filters the effective mixture results in an SPF of more than 30.

Andrew said: “The challenge was not only making it very effective against the sun but also pleasant to put on. We spent months getting the formula right.

“We also wanted to price it attractively so that customers would be encouraged to buy and use it, although I think it is scandalous that 20% VAT is added to such an important health product.

“It’s good to see Altruist getting such great reviews on Amazon from customers.”

Father-of-two Andrew is acutely aware of the damage the sun can do to skin and says the number of skin cancer referrals and cases in Kent is on the rise, despite the widely-publicised risks.

Altruist is already proving a huge success with thousands of tubes sold and five star reviews on Amazon, where it costs £8 for a 400ml twin pack.

Twenty pence from every sale also goes to Under The Same Sun, a charity that supports children with albinism in Africa, who are at great risk from the sun.

Andrew said: “The commercial side was completely new territory for me which is where David’s expertise came in.

“It’s been an interesting distraction but we have also invested a lot in the product so we are not in a position to pay ourselves yet.”