Kids and Melanoma: Protection Starts Young
> 8 tips for protecting against skin cancer
Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiation in childhood is one of the most common causes of melanoma later in life, and experts say that even one or two heavy sunburns can increase the risk.
“People who have received multiple blistering sunburns, especially during childhood, are at higher risk of developing melanoma,” says Mary Lien, M.D., a dermatologist at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, FL. “That’s why it is so important to emphasize prevention early in life.”
For both children and adults, prevention means regularly applying sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of 30 or higher, and wearing protective clothing and hats. Dr. Lien also recommends staying out of the sun during the most dangerous hours of the day, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., and shunning tanning beds altogether.
Very young children can be especially susceptible to ultraviolet rays, so parents should be even more diligent. Use of sunscreens on infants younger than six months should be avoided. Infants should be kept in the shade or under some sort of structure with a roof, and protective clothing is essential.
Vernon Sondak, M.D., chief of Moffitt’s Division of Cutaneous Oncology, says that on average about three fourths of our total exposure to the sun occurs by the age of 18. Childhood exposure is usually the intermittent kind—a long weekend here, a couple of days there. But he adds that intermittent, burning sun exposure correlates with early and dangerous melanomas. Dr. Sondak says they are seeing more and more melanoma cases in every age group, with some patients as young as 5 and 6 years old. “It’s not unusual to see a 15-, 16- or 17-year-old with melanoma.”
Contrary to popular myth, tanning does not protect skin from cancer. While statistics show that people who have the ability to tan are less likely than fair-skinned people to get melanoma, even those who manage to avoid blistering sunburns face higher risk through long exposure to the sun—tan or no tan.
Children and adolescents may have a hard time getting worked up about health problems that may not show up until later in life, but skin cancer is a growing problem. Since 1980, the rate of melanoma in the United States has risen by about 3 percent each year.
Dr. Lien advises a skin check about once a year for children as well as for adults. Developing sun-safe habits at a tender age is important to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer due to cumulative sun exposure. You want to instill good sun-protection habits in children early in life.
Article courtesy of Moffitt Cancer Center.
For more information, call Moffitt’s toll-free Cancer Answers hotline at 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488) or visit www.Moffitt.org.
8 Tips for Preventing Skin Cancer
By practicing common sense and wearing sunscreen, adults and children can still enjoy being outdoors while reducing the risk of developing skin cancer.
Here are some tips:
- Protect your skin and your children’s skin all year long by wearing sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day.
- Teach your children sun-protection habits at a young age.
- Avoid using sunscreens on infants younger than six months, and keep infants out of the sun at all times during this period.
- Use a waterproof sunscreen and reapply it every two hours.
- Wear a wide-brimmed hat that shields the face, ears, nose and back of the neck when in the sun—not a baseball-type cap that protects only the front of the face.
- If possible, avoid the sun during peak hours, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
- Avoid the use of tanning salons.
- Schedule yearly skin examinations.