2007-06-06 10:52:40
Scientist: Don't Trust Sunscreen
Robin Lloyd
LiveScience Senior Editor
LiveScience.com Fri May 11, 9:50 AM ET
The latest skin-cancer prevention advice is to stop trusting sunscreen as the
front line of defense against harmful rays.
Instead, wear sunblocking clothing or stay out of the sun altogether, experts
say.
Sunscreen has been shown to protect against UV skin damage as well as basal
carcinomas and squamous cell carcinoma two of the three most common skin
cancers. However, it has not been conclusively shown to protect against
melanoma , the most fatal kind, said Stephan Lautenschlager of the Outpatient
Clinic of Dermatology at Triemli Hospital in Switzerland.
Lautenschlager and his colleagues carried out a comprehensive review on sun
protection strategies worldwide, recently detailed online in the journal
Lancet.
"Wearing sun-protective clothing and a hat and reducing sun exposure to a
minimum should be preferred to sunscreens," Lautenschlager said. People tend to
sunbathe for social reasons, he said. "Nevertheless, sunscreens should not be
abused in an attempt to increase time in the sun to a maximum."
No wet T-shirts
The best clothing for sun protection is tightly woven, thick garments made of
denim, wool or polyester, not cotton, linen or acetate, he said. Dry material
or clothes that have shrunk after washing are denser and better at blocking UV
rays than wet, stretched or bleached clothing.
Outdoors, wear sunscreen and lots of it. Zinc or titanium oxide sunscreens
scatter UV light and yield fewer allergies, so they are better for children, he
said. The more common sunscreen lotions, called organic sunscreens, absorb UV
rays.
"The application of a liberal quantity of sunscreen is by far the most
important factor for effectiveness of the sunscreen, followed by the uniformity
of application and the specific absorption spectrum of the agent used,"
Lautenschlager said.
That is, don't treat the stuff like liquid gold. Smear it on. A shot glass-full
should be applied 15 to 30 minutes before heading outdoors.
Look at your skin
While four out of five people are concerned about skin cancer, more than half
have never been screened for skin cancer (54 percent) and nearly one quarter
(23 percent) never examine their skin for changes to moles and blemishes,
according to a recent survey by the American Academy of Dermatology.
More than 1 million new cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed this year, the
AAD says, but when detected early, even melanoma is highly treatable.
To check yourself, regular inspect all your skin, including the back, scalp,
buttocks, soles of the feet, between the toes and the palms of the hands. Use
mirrors when necessary.
Other tips from the AAD: Seek shade if you must be outdoors during the sun's
strongest hours, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Avoid tanning beds. Their UV light
causes skin cancer and wrinkling. Use a self-tanning lotion if you want to look
tanned.