Is Your Sunscreen Killing You?
May 25, 2011, By Craig J. Heimbuch 2 comments
You remember that song from the 90s, the one with the guy reading a commencement address over a Prince tune? C'mon, you know the one. Everybody thought it was Kurt Vonnegut. It was on the soundtrack to that freakishly terrible Baz Luhrman adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
Okay, you can try to deny it, but you remember the song. It started with the line: "Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97, wear sunscreen." Then it went on to give a lot of advice, ranging from the admonition to dance, live in northern California (leaving before it makes you soft), listen to your elders, be careful about how you receive advice and never read beauty magazines 'cause they will only "make you feel ugly."
While I can't verify every bit advice in the song, the bit about sunscreen is something everyone should listen to. Don't believe me? Well, here are a few sobering statistics from the Skin Cancer Foundation:
- The majority of people diagnosed with melanoma are white men over age 50.
- Skin cancer is the #1 cancer in men over age 50, ahead of prostate, lung and colon cancer.
- Middle-aged and older men have the poorest track record for performing monthly skin self exams or regularly visiting a dermatologist. They are the least likely individuals to detect melanoma in its early stages.
- Men over age 40 spend the most time outdoors and have the highest annual exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
So, the answer is simple, right? Throw on some SPF 40 and you're good to go. No statistics for you.
Not so fast Buster Brown. Sunscreen, for all of its good PR, may not be the knight in shining armor we think it is. In fact, it may make things worse.
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