Being smart about the sun.
ANY TAN IS SKIN DAMAGE
Summer is gone, but don’t let that stop you from protecting your skin.
Dermatologist Dr. Lawrence E. Gibson says all tanning increases your chance of cancer. He wrote on MayoClinic.com, “… any change in skin color is a sign of damage from ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Repeated exposure to UV radiation — whether from the sun or a tanning bed — increases your risk of premature skin aging and skin cancer.”
To prevent sunburn Gibson suggests using all of these sun protection methods:
- Avoid the sun between 10 am and 4 pm
when the sun’s rays are strongest - Cover up
- Use sunscreen frequently and liberally
Exposure to the sun – whether naturally or in a tanning bed – is showing up in cancer statistics. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed the number of cases of non-melanoma skin cancer tripled between the 1970s and 2005. While there are other causes of skin cancer, science confirms the sun is definitely the biggest culprit.
The National Cancer Institute says there were more than 1,000,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer in 2010. Nearly 1,000 of those people died!
There are lots of way to have fun in the sun and avoid skin damage or worse, cancer. You can even get a great natural looking tan today from a bottle.
All the careful skin care pays off, not just in the important ways of helping prevent skin cancer, but in the lighter, shall we say more superficial way of looking better and younger.
Dr Joseph Jorizzo, a dermatologist, commented yesterday that I have done a “really good job taking care of my skin.” He should know he’s the Founding Chair of the Dermatology Department at Wake Forest University and Adjunct Professor of Dermatology at the Weill Cornell School of Medicine.
So, if you want a tan from the sun or a tanning bed remember it may look good now, but you’ll pay for it later. Be blonde, brunette or whatever – but be ambitious about taking care of your skin. It will give you a lifetime of thanks.
Read part one and two of this series: Young and Immortals Still Tanning and Not Ambitious About a Tan.