Sunburn

What you should know…

1) Risk for Melanoma

Doubles if you’ve had five sunburns

Only takes ONE blistering sunburn in childhood to double your risk of melanoma later in life!

As opposed to other more common types of skin cancer (basal cell cancer [BCC] or squamous cell cancer [SCC]) risk for melanoma increases with even ONE bad sunburn

SCC and BCC are related to chronic sun accumulation

Other risks for melanoma

Skin type (think fair, blond, blue-eyed, freckled)

Number of moles

Family history (NOT a factor in other skin cancers)

2) Sunburn tips: prevention

Before…

Stay out of the sun during peak hours (10-4)

Seek shade

Cover up with hats, long sleeves, etc

Apply sunscreen every 2 hours and liberally—estimate an entire shot glass full to cover your body

Reapply after being in the water or sweating

Symptoms may take 4-6 hours to develop so a tinge of pink may be … a world of hurt later

2) Sunburn tips: treatment

After…

Cool bath

Moisturize with light lotion

Don’t rub, scrub, scratch, or burst blisters

Nsaids (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) i.e. ibuprofen or naprosyn)

3) What about sunscreen?

What is SPF? The Sun Protection Factor means how much longer can you stay in the sun without burning. I.e., if you can stay in the sun for 20 minutes without burning, with SPF 15 sunscreen you could be in the sun for close to 5 hours – in theory, but in reality it’s far, far less in practice

Sunscreen: new law

Can no longer claim to be “water proof” or “sweat proof”

Can only claim to be “water-resistant,” but must specify whether they protect the skin for 40 or 80 minutes of swimming or sweating, based on standard testing

Sunscreen cont’d

SPF refers mainly to the type of UVB protection a sunscreen offers

In reality, people don’t use nearly enough sunscreen and so the ACTUAL SPF is only about 1/3 of what the bottle says so it’s safest to use a higher SPF (i.e. SPF 15 is probably really only about SPF 5 with normal usage)

Sunscreen cont’d

Some experts express concern about the very high SPF because it may give a false sense of security: generally between 30-50 is best

UVA-blocking ingredients: zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone, ecamsule, and oxybenzone (some absorb, some are physical blockers)

First Degree sunburn

Second Degree sunburn

More than 80% of the signs of skin aging in adults are the result of the tans they had as teens before the age of 18.

Wrinkles

A common sign of sun damage

Solar Lentigines

A skin cancer related to chronic sun exposure

Basal Cell Carcinoma

A skin cancer related to chronic sun exposure

SquamousCell Carcinoma

A potentially deadly form of skin cancer closely linked with sunburns

Melanoma