Aug 02, 2024
I’m Megan Westfall, Oncology Nurse Navigator at United Hospital Center. I’m here to answer your questions about sun safety.
1. Is sun safety most imperative during summer months?
Sun safety is always in season. It’s important to protect your skin from sun damage throughout the year, no matter the weather. Exposing your skin to the sun year-round means you are exposing it to ultraviolet radiation, which can cause sunburn, skin aging, eye damage, and skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the U.S.
2. Can you tell us more about the dangers of skin cancer?
Skin cancer is on the rise in the U.S. The National Cancer Institute estimates there were 100,640 new cases of skin melanomas and 8,290 related deaths in 2024. In 2021, there were an estimated 1.4 million people living with melanoma of the skin in the U.S. Nationally, 6.1 million people are treated annually for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, the two most common types of skin cancer.
3. Those numbers are alarming. What can we do to protect ourselves from becoming one of these statistics?
Sunscreen is one way to protect against the rise in skin cancer rates. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to evaluate sunscreen products to ensure safety and effectiveness. Although all sunscreens help protect people from sunburn, only broad-spectrum sunscreens with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15 help protect us from skin cancer and early skin aging caused by the sun.
This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.
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