One blistering sunburn in childhood can double the risk of melanoma later in life. While basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer risk increases with chronic sun exposure, melanoma risk increases even after a single severe sunburn. Other melanoma risks include fair skin, number of moles, and family history. It is important to apply sunscreen liberally, reapply every 2 hours and after swimming or sweating, use at least SPF 30, and seek shade during peak sun hours to prevent sun damage and skin cancer.

2. 1) Risk for Melanoma
Doubles if you’ve had five sunburns
Only takes ONE blistering sunburn in childhood to double
your risk of melanoma later in life!
As opposed to other more common types of skin cancer
(basal cell cancer [BCC] or squamous cell cancer [SCC])
risk for melanoma increases with even ONE bad sunburn
SCC and BCC are related to chronic sun accumulation

3. Other risks for melanoma
Skin type (think fair, blond, blue-eyed, freckled)
Number of moles
Family history (NOT a factor in other skin cancers)

4. 2) Sunburn tips: prevention
Before…
Stay out of the sun during peak hours (10-4)
Seek shade
Cover up with hats, long sleeves, etc
Apply sunscreen every 2 hours and liberally—estimate an
entire shot glass full to cover your body
Reapply after being in the water or sweating
Symptoms may take 4-6 hours to develop so a tinge of pink
may be … a world of hurt later

5. 2) Sunburn tips: treatment
After…
Cool bath
Moisturize with light lotion
Don’t rub, scrub, scratch, or burst blisters
Nsaids (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) i.e.
ibuprofen or naprosyn)

6. 3) What about sunscreen?
What is SPF? The Sun Protection Factor means
how much longer can you stay in the sun without
burning. I.e., if you can stay in the sun for 20
minutes without burning, with SPF 15 sunscreen you
could be in the sun for close to 5 hours – in theory,
but in reality it’s far, far less in practice

7. Sunscreen: new law
Can no longer claim to be “water proof” or “sweat
proof”
Can only claim to be “water-resistant,” but must
specify whether they protect the skin for 40 or 80
minutes of swimming or sweating, based on standard
testing

8. Sunscreen cont’d
SPF refers mainly to the type of UVB protection a
sunscreen offers
In reality, people don’t use nearly enough sunscreen
and so the ACTUAL SPF is only about 1/3 of what
the bottle says so it’s safest to use a higher SPF (i.e.
SPF 15 is probably really only about SPF 5 with
normal usage)

9. Sunscreen cont’d
Some experts express concern about the very high
SPF because it may give a false sense of security:
generally between 30-50 is best
UVA-blocking ingredients: zinc oxide, titanium
dioxide, avobenzone, ecamsule, and oxybenzone
(some absorb, some are physical blockers)

11. First Degree sunburn

12. Second Degree sunburn

13. More than 80% of the signs of skin aging in adults are the result of the
tans they had as teens before the age of 18.
Wrinkles

14. A common sign of sun damage
Solar Lentigines

15. A skin cancer related to chronic sun exposure
Basal Cell Carcinoma

16. A skin cancer related to chronic sun exposure
SquamousCell Carcinoma

17. A potentially deadly form of skin cancer closely linked with sunburns
Melanoma