Are You Truly Safe from UV?

Bright, sunny days and clear, healthy skin are two things that most everyone welcomes with open arms. But the glorious sun that brings a smile to your face and the sought-after tan to your body also has the potential to damage your skin, cause health problems, and even kill. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, specifically UVA and UVB, is considered to be one of the biggest factors in the development of skin cancer, the most common of all cancers. More than half of all newly diagnosed cancers are skin cancers, well over a million a year. Other potential dangers posed by sun exposure include:

• Human papillomavirus (HPV) susceptibility
• Macular degeneration
• Cataracts

Given these dangers, learning how to enjoy the nice weather while also protecting yourself from this radiation is vital to your health.

How Sun Savvy Are You?

Your first line of defense should be to focus on prevention. You may be taking precautions, but are you taking all the right steps? Take the quiz to test your skin protection savvy.

1. After playing volleyball for an hour on the beach, Susan jumps in the ocean to cool off. She wears a T-shirt to protect against sun damage. Will the T-shirt help protect her skin?

• Yes
• No
• Maybe

The correct answer is: Maybe.

Not all clothing protects the same, and some does not protect you at all. Research says that if you are relying on your clothes to protect you from the sun, there is a right way and a wrong way to dress. Wearing clothing helps to block the sun, but clothing alone may not be sufficient. For example, a regular white T-shirt provides a sun protection factor (SPF) of 6 or 7 at the most, and the SPF of a wet T-shirt is even lower. In other words, if you swim in a white T-shirt and think you are protected, you might just get burned. If you're planning on being outdoors, apply sunblock 15 minutes before you get dressed. Or, wear tightly woven fabric — polyester and rayon are better than cotton. Dark clothing blocks more UV light than light colors and mesh materials offer virtually no protection from the sun. You also should avoid swimming at midday when the sun is strongest.

2. Andre has an office job and is fairly pale. He occasionally goes hiking when the weather is nice and sometimes gets sunburned. Charlie, on the other hand, is always tan because he spends every morning outside on the golf course. Who runs a greater risk of having damaged skin?

• Andre
• Charlie
• Both the same

The correct answer is: Andre.

Although other risk factors such as family history and skin type increase the likelihood of developing cancer, Andre runs a greater risk of damaging his skin in this scenario. Many people think it's OK to get sunburned once in a while, but studies show that occasional exposures to intense UV rays, such as when you are at an increased altitude, are more closely linked to the development of melanoma than shorter everyday exposures to sunlight. Even if the total amount of UV exposure is the same, the weekend sunbather will have a greater risk of developing melanoma. A recent systematic review of case-control studies confirmed that intermittent sun exposure and sunburn at all ages were associated with an increased risk of melanoma. It also showed, however, that people exposed to sun through their work were at a reduced risk. With consistent protected exposure, the skin not only produces melanin, but its outer layers also thicken, limiting damage from further UV exposure. Such adaptive responses provide Charlie greater protection against cancer, but not against wrinkles.