Everything under the sun you need to know about protecting your skin.
With summer right ahead, you may be planning to relax poolside or at the beach. But enjoying summer's longer and sunnier days outdoors means your skin is vulnerable to sunburn. Unless you take the right precautions, sun exposure (even if you don't get scorched) can damage your skin, causing wrinkles, age spots and even skin cancer.
Everything under the sun you need to know about protecting your skin.
With summer right ahead, you may be planning to relax poolside or at the beach. But enjoying summer's longer and sunnier days outdoors means your skin is vulnerable to sunburn. Unless you take the right precautions, sun exposure (even if you don't get scorched) can damage your skin, causing wrinkles, age spots and even skin cancer.
While sun safety is important all year long, it's essential to protect your skin from top to toe this time of year, says Kathleen Suozzi, MD, a Yale Medicine dermatologist. "The sun’s rays are stronger during the summer months. Summer also brings with it a carefree state of mind that sometimes leads people to being more laid back about sun protection than they should be," she says.
Since skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States—one in five people will be diagnosed with it in their lifetimes—it’s important to practice sun safety before heading outdoors. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can damage the skin in three ways: They can cause hyperpigmentation or sun spots (photodamage). The rays can also break down the skin’s collagen and elastin, which means it will atrophy and wrinkle before its time. Worse yet, too much sun is associated with several types of skin cancer. Experts say just one sunburn during your youth doubles your chances of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Read more at Yale Medicine
Photo credit: Kreuzschnabel via Wikimedia Commons
