Beach Butter

Posts Tagged ‘sun damage’

I’m writing this article outside in the sunshine. Well, actually that’s not completely true.

I am outside and the sun is shining beautifully but I’m sitting in the shade. As much as I’d like to feel the heat of the sun on my exposed limbs my days of sunbathing have gone – doctors orders!

Like many people I love to have a tan. It has always made me feel healthier (and slimmer) somehow, and from my mid teens until my early thirties I spent many a happy hour soaking up the sun’s rays.

But not any more.

I have done so much damage to my skin over the years that if I had one of those special skin X-rays done I would look about ninety! I’ve had all sorts of things burned, frozen or cut out and it has to stop before I get the kind of skin cancer that cannot be treated.

When I was a teenager it was “cool” to have a tan although I don’t suppose that was the expression used in those days. It was just fashionable. I used to rush home from work at lunchtime and don my bikini for almost my entire hour’s lunch break. I’d then dash back to work red faced but happy, pleased that I was gradually building up a lovely tan to show off in my sleeveless, low cut tops and halter necks.

I sunbathed in the middle of the day when the sun was at its hottest and not only did I not use suntan lotion but coated myself in baby oil instead. I literally cooked myself.

Was I stupid? – probably, but not intentionally. I just didn’t know better. No-one did back then. Sun tan lotion was only for those very rich people who actually went abroad for holidays to “hot” places like Spain or Portugal.

As I got older my quest for an all year tan led me to sunbeds. For almost two years I had one in my bedroom and used it regularly. There was no advice in those days not to use one for more than a few days per year.

I religiously wore the thick black goggles and timed the sessions but I certainly had more in a month than is now recommended for a year.

Too late, the damage has been done and I’ll be happier when I’m older so I can grow into my skin!

My excuse for not taking better care is that I was simply unaware of the dangers sun damage can do. However, in this day and age there is no excuse for people to follow my example.

In almost every magazine and newspaper reference is made to the changes in the ozone layer and the increasing strength of the sun. Yet still many people, particularly men, seem to think that it is only when you go on holiday that you need to use sun protection.

If you look at any construction site or road maintenance operation during the summer you will see men with their shirts off, working in the heat of the day, burning their backs, necks, heads and arms. Some even wear shorts with their heavy duty boots.

How many, I wonder, wear sun protection and out of those who do, how many actually renew it as the day goes on?

Like me in my younger days it still appears to be the belief if you work outside then the tan will build up gradually and it will be okay. However, a tan is a sign of DNA damage and as the saying goes, “There’s no such thing as a safe tan”.

A recent survey (2007) revealed that ten percent of men don’t even know solar radiation is linked to skin cancer and two thirds of men rely on their wives to both buy and apply sun protection for them.

I’m not sure if that’s a macho thing or what, but skin cancer is on the increase and in UK we have more cases than Australia. This is most likely due to the awareness over there but 13.5 million men in UK don’t use sun cream and the more people burn the more risk there is.

Women are more likely to use sun protection because of the fear of premature ageing, wrinkles and age spots but even then many don’t realise that it’s not just necessary on hot sunny days.

You can’t see or feel UV radiation and it can be equally as dangerous on cloudy days. You need to protect against both UVA which are ageing and UVB which are burning.

As the summers get hotter and longer it is essential to protect your skin at all times and you should use at least a sun protection factor 15 (SPF15).

Also take great care of your eyes and make sure your sunglasses have UV protection otherwise you’ll magnify the sun’s rays onto the delicate skin around your eyes.

There’s no question being in the sun gives you that feel good factor and wonderful natural Vitamin D. However, limit your exposure and avoid the hottest times of the day when the sun is at its highest otherwise you’ll be like me and have to sit in the shade – doctors orders!

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the great sunscreen speech hoax. In case you missed it: in 1997, everybody seemed to be quoting Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to graduating MIT students that famously began, “Wear sunscreen.” The trouble was – Vonnegut didn’t write that or any other MIT commencement address. The only true part of the proposition, then and still? Sun damage is real. Skin protection is essential. Wear sunscreen!

It’s one of the most frequent questions I get. Patients ask me all the time: Do I really need to wear sunscreen? And the answer is, “Yes, no matter who you are, where you live, where you work, you really need to wear sunscreen every day.” Why am I so determined to get everybody slathered with skin protection? Well, nobody is in a better position than a dermatologist to see the harsh effects of solar radiation on human skin.

Most people know that exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun can lead to skin cancer, especially in fair-skinned people with light eye and hair color. But it’s not only pale folks who are at risk: multiple sunburns, for any skin color or type, raise the risk of skin cancer. And sunscreen really can effectively prevent sunburn, if you use it right.

Short of cancer, though, years of sun exposure gradually change our skin in ways that make us look – well, old. Yes, sunlight can promote premature aging of the skin, accelerating natural aging processes, weakening collagen, and causing the elastic fibers in skin to uncoil like a worn-out bedspring. And then – well, you know the rest. Your skin sags. Gravity takes over, the skin can’t hold out, so down it comes.

Sun exposure also dries out skin and reduces its ability to hold moisture. The resulting lines and wrinkles sharpen the appearance of aging. And the cute, charming freckles that the sun brings out in childhood morph into the brown spots and discoloration that plague us as we get older.

So how can we use sunscreen to get the skin protection we need? First, be sure you get the right product. The worst sun damage comes from UVA rays. UVA has a longer wavelength, so it can penetrate deeper into the skin, causing the aging effects we associate with sun exposure. We now know that UVA exposure also blocks your skin’s natural repair mechanisms, so that previous damage and pre-cancers cannot be reversed. It’s UVA radiation that can give you a sunburn on a cloudy day – it travels right through the clouds. And it can go through the glass of your car windows, which is why we dermatologists see the most skin cancers on the head and neck, on the left. Look at the left side of your neck. Do you see brown spots? When you were 13, they didn’t have UVA protection. That’s the ray that’s aging you.

So I always urge my patients to make sure they have the right product, and to use it correctly. First, look for a bottle or tube of sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays (UVB is the one that causes burning between 10 am and 3 pm). More tips for effective sunscreen use:

• Be sure you get a sunscreen with an SPF number of at least 30
• Apply it liberally, about 15 to 20 minutes before sun exposure
• Reapply every one to two hours, especially if you’re going into the water or perspiring a lot
• Once you have the sunscreen part down, there’s more you can do to protect yourself from the sun:
• Limit your sun exposure, especially during the high sun hours of 10 am to 3 pm
• Seek shade can whenever possible
• Find sun protective clothing – it offers effective protection while you’re outdoors
• Throw away your sunscreen from last year and purchase new products

That last point needs some extra emphasis. Most people don’t realize that these old sunscreens chemically break down. Unless there’s an expiration date on the bottle, you can’t assume they’ll provide the label’s SPF protection for more than a year.

For the take-home message, I’d just like to elaborate on the advice of journalist Mary Schmich (she’s the one who really wrote the “Vonnegut speech”), and urge everybody to use sun protection that blocks both UVA and UVB to their exposed skin each and every day. In other words – “Wear sunscreen!”