It's that time of year where people will be laying in tanning beds or out in the sun. They have this odd perception that being tan makes you look skinny. Who comes up with this sh*t?! Exposing your skin to a tanning bed and overly exposing it to the sun's harmful rays is slowly causing irreversable damage. Damage that will very likely develop into skin cancer. Your skin is the largest organ you've got...protect it!
Below, is an article from the Carroll County Times about protecting your skin.
There are vitamin D deficiencies, which going outdoors can solve, but there are those whose skin has turned leathery from too much time baking under the hot sun.
Below, is an article from the Carroll County Times about protecting your skin.
There are vitamin D deficiencies, which going outdoors can solve, but there are those whose skin has turned leathery from too much time baking under the hot sun.
Myths swirl around about how much sunscreen should actually be used and how often, and what words like “broad-spectrum coverage” and “SPF” actually mean. And it can be confusing, said Susan Rinehart, a Carroll County Health Department community outreach coordinator.
“The information that you get, it does vary,” she said. “It’s hard to keep on top of all of this. Things constantly change as [researchers] spend more time investigating.”
Here’s a list of common myths, coupled with the opinions of medical experts and federal agencies.
Myth No. 1
A tan is healthy.
A tan is the body’s response to damage — and a physical indicator at that, according to Rinehart. It’s the skin’s attempt to prevent further injury, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
Myth No. 2
Tanning beds are fine to use in moderation because a good base tan protects the skin from sunburns.
Tanning is damage no matter what, Rinehart said, and the Skin Cancer Foundation agrees. This “good base tan” can lead to gene defects, which can cause skin cancer, according to the Foundation.
Myth No. 3
A sunscreen of SPF 100 completely protects against the sun because the higher the number, the stronger the defense.
Picking a sunscreen isn’t as easy as looking at the SPF number (which stands for sun protection factor).
In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that sunscreen companies could change their labels if they met certain safety standards. If the product blocks against ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B rays, the bottle can be labeled “broad spectrum.” Both UVA and UVB rays contribute to sunburns and skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
Thus, people should slather on a broad-spectrum sunscreen for optimum protection before spending time out in the sun, according to the FDA, American Academy of Dermatology, local health department and Carroll Hospital Center officials. It should be re-applied about every two hours and immediately after sweating or swimming, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
Additionally, bottles with an SPF between 2 and 14 and those that do not offer broad-spectrum coverage are required to have a warning label stating that it has not been proven to help protect against skin cancer, according to the new FDA regulations.
“Most skin cancers are caused by sun exposure. FDA encourages consumers to protect themselves,” Janet Woodcock, FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director, said in a June 2011 news release. “Not only should consumers regularly apply and reapply sunscreens with broad spectrum and SPF of 15 or higher, they should also limit sun exposure.”
The exact SPF number recommended differs from medical expert to medical expert, agency to agency. Yet, there’s one consensus: The bottle should have an SPF 15, at least.
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends SPF 30, stating it blocks 97 percent of the sun’s rays. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at least SPF 15.
Local dermatologist Dr. Lawrence Feldman said he tells his patients to start using SPF 15. If the skin is still turning pink, up the ante, he said. But always, always use broad-spectrum sunscreen, he said.
“I tell patients all the time,” he said, “use your head, don’t get red.”
Myth No. 4
People with darker skin don’t need sunscreen because they won’t develop skin cancer.
While it’s less common for those with darker skin to develop skin cancer, according to the CDC, it still happens.
In 2009, about 25 out of 100,000 white people developed melanoma — the most severe type of skin cancer, according to CDC data. The next highest susceptible group was American Indian/Alaskan natives at about 5 out of 100,000 people, then Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders and then blacks. The latest available data is from 2009, according to the CDC.
Thus, the Skin Cancer Foundation recommends that everyone, regardless of skin color, wear sunscreen.
Myth No. 5
It’s necessary to lay out for several hours to avoid becoming vitamin D deficient.
It’s true the sun helps the body produce vitamin D, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. But after a small window of time, vitamin D reaches the maximum needed. The Foundation estimated this short span as five minutes daily at noon for a white person living in New York during the summer.
“We do need a certain amount of exposure to the sun to get proper levels of vitamin D,” Rinehart said, “but we don’t need eight hours every day. We need minutes.”
This is a news report about my friend Tenna. She has stage IV Melanoma, and has been fighting for 5 years. Paper cranes wish for a Melanoma cure
Like she says, it cannot be cut out! Love the skin you're in, and protect it, it's the only skin you get.
Visit Aim at Melanoma for more information about prevention, detection, and treatment.
