Women know about the importance of sunscreen. We’re reminded of it every time we flip open a magazine, thanks to the cosmetics industry hawking moisturizers, foundations and makeup with an SPF.
Men and kids need a little reminder, though.
The majority of people diagnosed with melanoma are white men older than 50, according to the Mayo Clinic. And the most damaging sun exposure is from birth to age 18, according to Paula Hess, RN, cancer screening nurse navigator at Bayhealth Medical Center.
So when the kids head outside to play, are going fishing with dad or if dad’s just working in the yard, sunscreen and protective clothes are a necessity.
“I don’t think we realize how much sun exposure we get just walking from our cars to the shopping centers,” said Hess.
That’s called innocent exposure, and people need to be mindful of it.
“The sun is out there all year long, so sun protection is not just for the summer,” she said.
Kids, teens should be wary inside and outdoors
There’s a machine that Hess sometimes takes to health fairs that allows people to screen the skin damage on their faces. When she lets kids scan their faces and has parents look at it, they’re often shocked.
“Sun protection needs to start the day they take that baby out of the hospital,” Hess said.
Babies shouldn’t wear sunscreen until they’re 6 months old, so its best to keep them covered up if they’re going to be in the sun.
Letting kids and teens hang outside with unprotected skin is risky. When you’re young and get a blistering sunburn, you’ve done lifelong damage that can lead to premature aging, including tougher skin, freckling and discoloration.
And tanning beds are just unacceptable, Hess said. Unfortunately, approximately 2.3 million teenagers tan indoors in the United States every year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
There is no safe tan, so Hess is happy Delaware legislators passed a bill limiting teens’ access to tanning. The bill bans children younger than 14 from using indoor tanning facilities unless medically necessary, and then it has to be done under a doctor’s supervision. The bill also requires parents of 14- to 17-year-olds accompany their children and sign consent forms in the presence of a salon staff member.
Men squeamish about sunscreen but many need it for work
As for men, many of them don’t understand the importance of daily sun exposure, Hess said. And they don’t always like using sunscreen. It can smell, well, girly. And if they’re with friends, they might feel awkward about asking one of the guys to rub it on their back.
Hess said one of the contributing factors to larger number of men with skin cancer is that they tend to hold jobs that place them outside more often than women.
One group that took note of this was the Laborer’s Health and Safety Fund of North America, a labor management fund that fosters better health behaviors among laborers and their families, and helps reduce workplace injury and illness. In 1998 they developed the Sun Sense program after realizing many of their members were construction workers who spent most of their work hours outdoors.
Jamie Becker, LHSFNA associate director of health promotions, has been overseeing the program for the past few years.
The program encourages those who work outside to stock and use lip balm and towelettes with 30 SPF and neckflaps with 40 to 50 SPF that attach to the back of a hard hat.
“The back of the neck tends to be an area that a lot of us forget about protecting, and the ears as well,” Becker said.
Sunscreen pumps bracketed to the wall also can be sent to training centers and local unions.
Becker said the LHSFNA takes the program seriously, as do its members. In the past few years, requests for the products have increased 5% to 10%. The amounts requested have been on the rise, too.
Hess said the men taking advantage of the program — and everyone slathering on sunscreen — are doing themselves a favor for the future.
“Skin cancer can be mostly prevented if people would just take some measures to avoid exposure,” she said.
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