Wear Suncreen (Please)

Around here, Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer. Many people will make their first trek to the beach, while many more will take their first trip to their neighborhood pool. While most people will pack sunscreen in their tote bags, many don’t realize that you should wear sunscreen year-round, even on cloudy days.

I learned that lesson the hard way when I was in middle school. My youth group took a day trip to the beach. Even though it was completely overcast, I was determined to “lay out” and “get a tan.” I slathered myself with baby oil and lay on my towel for as long as I could stand it. By the end of the day, I had a serious sunburn. I still remember how painful it was, and how my damaged skin peeled off in sheets days later.

With a history like that, it’s no wonder that I am one of the many people who have had a nonmelanoma skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma). (According to the CDC website, approximately 2 million people are diagnosed with basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas in the U.S. each year) While those types of skin cancer are not deadly, they can be disfiguring. I was lucky–my cancer was along my hairline, and my dermatologist was able to remove it all and hide the area under my bangs. In fact, it was my hairdresser that got me to the dermatologist in the first place, because she could see it more easily than I could.

May is skin cancer awareness month, and the Centers for Disease Control has these tips for protecting yourself from the dangers of UV radiation:

• Seek shade, especially during midday hours.
• Wear clothing to protect exposed skin.
• Wear a hat with a wide brim to shade the face, head, ears, and neck.
• Wear sunglasses that wrap around and block as close to 100% of both UVA and UVB rays as possible.
• Use sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher, and both UVA and UVB protection.
• Avoid indoor tanning.

The CDC doesn’t recommend routine screening for everyone, but it does list these risk factors:

• A lighter natural skin color.
• Family history of skin cancer.
• A personal history of skin cancer.
• Exposure to the sun through work and play.
• A history of sunburns early in life.
• A history of indoor tanning.
• Skin that burns, freckles, reddens easily, or becomes painful in the sun.
• Blue or green eyes.
• Blond or red hair.
• Certain types and a large number of moles.

If you have any of these risk factors, I urge you to get screened by a dermatologist. I had noticed “something” a few months before my hairdresser said anything and asked my family doctor about it during an office visit, but he wasn’t concerned. By the time I saw my dermatologist, he suspected cancer right away.

Did you know that skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S.?

Do you wear sunscreen?