There is an increase in the risk of melanoma among teens who do not use sunscreen when outside or partake in the popular tanning bed industry, a new report warns.
The report, published in Preventing Chronic Disease from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that 12 percent fewer teenagers are using sunscreen than they were a decade ago.
That is not good news for medical professionals attempting to get ahead of skin disease and educate youth on the importance of protecting their bodies.
The report also suggested that there has been a marked rise in the number of teenagers who regularly use tanning beds to darken their skin. Despite ongoing evidence and public awareness campaigns, the number of teens heading to the tanning salon has not decreased notably.
The research warned that heading to these salons and failing to use sunscreen will increase the risk of skin cancers, including the deadly melanomas.
And investigators in a separate study published in Pediatrics found that indoor tanning was associated with developing skin cancer at an early age. Moreover, the strongest link was seen among those whose first exposure to indoor tanning occurred when they were teens or young adults.
"Unfortunately, we found a decrease in the overall percentage of teens who reported wearing sunscreen, from 67.7 percent in 2001 to 56.1 percent in 2011," said lead researcher Corey Basch, an associate professor in the department of public health at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J.
"Using sun-protective behaviors like applying sunscreen and avoiding intentional exposure to tanning devices will be key [to lowering cancer risk]," she added.
For white teenage girls, from 2009 to 2011 there was only a decrease of 8 percent in the use of such tanning beds.
Basch did not give an explanation for why teenagers are leaving their sunscreen in the tube, but urged for other research to look into this phenomenon.
"High school years are important years that can impact the future," Basch said. "High school students are starting to make decisions for themselves."
The best sunscreens are those that protect against both UVA and UVB rays. "Both are involved in skin cancer," said Dr. Jeanine Daly, a dermatologist at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Manhasset, N.Y. "The most important thing to remember about sunscreen is that it doesn't last very long." Sunscreen needs to be applied every two hours, Daly said.
A new video that shows the effects of the sun to the skin may just be able to persuade people to start slathering on sunscreens or even avoid the sun altogether, Tech Times reports.
The video by Thomas Leveritt, which was posted on YouTube and to date has already been viewed nearly seven million times, reveals the effects of not using sunscreen. Entitled "How the Sun Sees You," the video shows people who appear to have healthy skin looking at themselves through an ultraviolet light camera that was designed to reveal the hidden damage caused by the sun.
These and other similar efforts to educate people on the importance of protecting themselves could be useful in stemming the growing tide of antisunscreen users across the country. For medical professionals, it is imperative that individuals understand the reasons they are taking the precaution.
