In case you missed it, an article was published on June 29th in the Wall Street Journal indicating that most people do not apply sufficient sunscreen. Our own Dr. Cohen has been quoted in several national magazines including US News and World Report and Consumer Reports about sunscreen tips.
Dr. Cohen Says:
Our own Dr. Cohen, fellowship-trained skin cancer surgeon who lectures internationally about skin cancer (and who is just back from lecturing in Australia), indicated “ patients need to use sunscreen every two hours to be most effective. Sunscreen should be labeled as broad-spectrum. If people are sweating, swimming, or toweling-off — then they should definitely reapply more frequently than every two hours. In an average sized adult, a marble size amount will cover the head and neck. And a golf ball sized amount will cover most of the body. We definitely recommend people wear a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and even consider sun-protective clothing. For hiking and golfing and fishing etc., long-sleeved UPF button down shirts are great over a T-shirt. For swimming and spending time at the beach, rash-guard swim-shirts are great. Nowadays, these UPF active-wear shirts and swim-shirts are available at local sporting good stores and camping stores, as well as over the Internet.
Additional information
Even when people are sitting in the shade, they should have sunscreen and additional sun-protection, as people don’t realize that there is a tremendous amount of reflected sun from water, sand, snow and even cement. By simply incorporating these recommendations on a regular basis, we can try to decrease the staggering amount of skin cancer that we are currently seeing. We do know that one in five Americans will get a skin cancer in their lifetime, and some skin cancers are very concerning and potentially life-threatening — with one person dying every hour in this country from a melanoma. Don’t forget sunscreen on commonly missed spots such as: back of hands, lips, and neck.
