Facts About Sun Safety

There are a few important things to remember when protecting your skin from the sun and its damaging effects. Ultraviolet rays can not only harm the appearance of your skin with wrinkles and sun spots, UV rays can also cause skin cancer. Limiting your exposure to the sun doesn't have to be a challenge; wearing a long-sleeved shirt or cover-up, using sunscreen, putting on a hat, and wearing sunglasses are simple, but effective measures you can take to stay safe in the sun.

Cover Exposed Skin

• Sun exposure happens all the time, not just when you are at the beach or the pool. For this reason, you should wear clothing that will protect your skin from UV rays.

  Light-colored clothing is best because it reflects UV rays as opposed to dark-colored clothing which tends to absorb sunlight. Long sleeves, pants and dresses are also good because they protect more areas of your skin.

  You can also buy clothing that has a UV protectant added to the material, or you can buy laundry products that add and maintain UV protection in clothing. One such product is Rit Sun Gard; another is Dead Down Wind.

Use Sunscreen

• Some types of sun block are absorbed into your skin better than others. Sunblock that is absorbed gets deeper into the skin layers and affords better protection.

  Sunblock that sits on top of the skin reflects some UV rays while preventing others from going any further into the skin. That is the whole goal of sun block; to prevent UV rays from getting into the deeper skin layers where cell mutation can occur which may later cause skin cancer.

  Sunblock should have a minimum sun protection factor (SPF) of 15. This number tells how high the protection level of the sun block is against UVB rays. The higher the number, the more protection you have.

  This still does not mean you can stay out in the sun any longer, unless you wear a higher SPF. You get one minute of UVB rays for every 15 minutes you spend in the sun even when you are wearing SPF 15 sunblock. Remember, sunblock does not give total protection from the sun's rays, you must take care to protect your skin in other ways.

Wear a Hat

• A hat with a brim measuring two to three inches all around will protect your neck, ears, eyes, forehead, nose, scalp and other places that may be exposed to the sun. A baseball cap can help protect the front and top of your head but the back of your neck and your ears are still exposed. Both of these places are common spots for skin cancer to occur.

  You might want to look into buying a shade cap. This headgear resembles a baseball cap but also has about seven inches of fabric hanging down from the sides and back.

Wear Sunglasses

• You may have never thought that your eyes can also absorb UV rays, but they can. It is possible to literally get sunburn on your eyelids, underneath your eyes and in your eyes themselves.

  Darker shades do not necessarily provide more protection than lighter shades do; the protection comes from the amount of UV blocking chemical that has been applied to the eyewear.

  Be sure to purchase sunglasses with UVA/UVB protection. Polarized lenses are also great because they can limit glare, which helps you avoid squinting.

Warnings

• By the time you see redness on your skin after sun exposure, it's too late. A sunburn has already occurred. Getting severely sunburned, with blistering and extreme redness raises your chances of getting skin cancer.

  Never look directly at the sun. It can burn your eyes. This is true even if you are wearing sunglasses.