Protect Your Skin!
This is the worst time of year for the skin. The winter months have reduced skin pigmentation to their lowest levels. At the same time, the ozone layer begins to reach its lowest levels during the spring months as the stage is set for chlorine molecules to continuously react with ozone.
Using a good sunscreen and avoiding burns or excess sun exposure is important. My dermatologist recommends Neutrogena with Helioplex.
The normal cancer causing agent is high wave radiation from the sun that emits enough energy to cause the side chains of our DNA to fuse (dimers). Our cells have machinery to repair dimers on an on-going basis, but extreme sun exposure can overload the machinery. This system overload occurs more frequently in young children, thus much of the cancer is attributed to sun exposure during our childhood.
So lather up with Helioplex, moderate your time out in the sun and enjoy the weather!
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April 7, 2009 |
Jenson Hagen | Comments (9 so far)
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Comments
Posted by: Jenson | Apr 7, 2009 11:05:51 AM
Actually plants do have sunscreen. Anthocyanin and carotenoids for example. That's why you need to eat colorful foods--for their antioxidant sunscreen. Plants void of naturally occurring sunscreen meet the same fate as a pasty human being that does not wear sunscreen out in midday sun--they both fall victim to DNA damage.
Posted by: Andy B | Apr 7, 2009 11:18:13 AM
Thanks for this timely reminder.
As a melonoma survivor, I learned about the importance of skin cancer prevention in a very difficult way. Melanoma is a very deadly disease in its advanced stages. Regular skin checks at your doctor's office and sensible habits to avoid unnecessary sun exposure can go a long way to preventing advanced melanoma or other skin cancers.
Posted by: aslkdfj | Apr 7, 2009 4:53:57 PM
I thought your liver stores / releases that whatever stuff when there is less sun thru the winter.
Posted by: jrw | Apr 7, 2009 6:38:55 PM
For the skiers among us, the hosts at Timberline usually have industrial-strength bottles of sunscreen handy on sunny days.
Some of us do go outside in the winter!
Posted by: Rhonda Sparks | Apr 8, 2009 8:42:30 PM
Thank you for such an informative article! I am constantly searching the web so solid information on good sun protection and why we need it, etc. and your article did a wonderful job at explaining this. I too learned the hard way about too much sun expisure as I lost my 32-year-old husband to melanoma. We have three little boys - ages 1, 3, and 5 at the time of his death - and I know how REAL this disease is. And not even the death rate, or that melanoma is the fastest growing cancer and 4th deadliest, but just the fact that 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year; thats 1 in 5. And the numbers are growing! (In comparison to most other cancers that are decreasing in diagnosis.)
After losing Darren, I have completely changed my life's mission. I started a company called UV Skinz and we manufacture UV swim shirts and UV clothing for the entire family. The company is growing at a slow steady pace (probably because I give away more product than I sell!) but I am grateful for the amount of exposure I can bring to this highly misunderstood disease.
Thank you again for your post.
Best,
Rhonda
www.uvskinz.com
Posted by: bird | Apr 9, 2009 11:15:14 AM
Do yourself and all of your families a favor. Learn about sunscreens so that you don't make the mistake others have? You might want to use real protection and get clothing that blocks UV radiation but does not add chemicals known to cause harm to your system? The things sold by advertisement are either useless or harmful. Why would someone promote the use of a product like this? Think before you act.
Posted by: Alan | Apr 9, 2009 11:36:25 AM
Bird is at least partially right -- the best protection against UV radiation is clothing. Hats with brims, neck bandanas, long sleeves, and long pants offer the best protection short of staying out of the sun. And don't forget the tops of those sandal-shod feet.
Also, remember that reflected UV radiation is just as dangerous as direct. Working or playing around water or snow, for instance, your face can catch a lot of rays reflected from the surface around you even if you're protected from overhead sun by a hat brim.
If you're going to use sunblock (and the non-PABA formulations are less risky than the others) the most important places are ones that stick out and are harder to cover -- ears, nose, and backs of hands (and tops of feet if they're not inside shoes).
Posted by: Stock A Firk In Me | Apr 12, 2009 4:35:47 PM
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the "systemic sunscreens" now available. I did due diligence for a friend on one in New Zealand. She says the products are good. I was impressed that they had been in business for 15 years, with very local clientele, before going to the internet.
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Posted by: Zarathustra | Apr 7, 2009 9:30:04 AM
I have a friend in Texas that started being religious about sunscreen use in the 70s, when she was a bit odd, relative to the rest. We were just talking yesterday, watching the India cricket tour of New Zealand, about how a real social-perceptual watershed has been reached in this regard.
Bottom line, contemporary Indians- we're talking millionaire superstars with mega commercial endorsements- simply don't care about what it does to their appearance, they want the best protection possible. Easy to understand if you live in India and stand outdoors all day for a living, but the degree of sentiment is still remarkable. They have taken to basically just slathering tons of zinc oxide all over their faces. There was one fast bowler I noticed in particular, who suffers from heavy, heavy five o'clock shadow, that had so much zinc oxide on that it completely hid his beard.
Meanwhile a girl was walking through the crowd with what looked like a backpack style insect sprayer, filled with sunscreen, doling it out to various patrons laying in the sun. I remember publicly available sunscreen on Dutch beaches, as well, 10 years ago.
The issue for people like me, is why would I care, personally? I cannot imagine surviving the next 10 years, for a multitude of reasons, mostly social, so why would I worry about melanoma? An awful lot of people in this society are having concerns more akin to the Canadian pilots, than to my friend in Texas and yours. The people starting families care. They're voting to hope in the future. They can move this issue forward. The rest of us aren't quite as concerned about reapolsturing the deck chairs.
BTW, this is one of those things one never thinks about vis a vis wildlife and human effects on the environment. Plants and animals have to tough it out without sunscreen, whether there's an ozone hole overhead or not.