Sunblock on Beach Vacations
May is National Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Over a million people are diagnosed with some sort of skin cancer or melanoma every year, including me. I traveled to the Caribbean every year when I was a kid, and when I was in high school and college I baked myself mercilessly in the sun. Back then, tropical vacations didn’t include sunblock. It was about sun tanning cream – remember that? It seems laughable now. If ever there was a candidate for basal or squamous cell carcinoma, it was me. And now, two decades or so later, those second-degree sunburns I basically gave myself as a traveling, beach-going adolescent have indeed resulted in this non-malignant skin cancer.
Around half of all diagnosed cancers annually are skin cancer/melanoma, despite it being one of the most preventable types of cancer. These days, parents presumably know to slather the sunblock on their children and themselves before spending some vacation time in the sun. I hope that, as years pass, the high rate of diagnosed skin cancer decreases (since our awareness has increased). Over 90% of skin cancer/melanoma can be traced to unprotected sun exposure, after all. I got this information from The Skin Care Foundation, which is the organization the Vacation Gals are showcasing for the month of May. The Skin Cancer Foundation raises awareness and works towards decreasing the “incidence of skin cancer through public and professional education and research.”
Self-Portrait; Limit Sun Exposure on Vacation
I got my diagnosis a few days ago (as of this writing), and while the dermatologist is pretty certain that this is the “good kind” of cancer, it’s still been scary. This non-malignant melanoma was treated by spot-freezing it with liquid nitrogen. A little cold, but painless. It took less than 5 minutes, in fact, and I should consider myself lucky if this and the follow-up topical cream are all it takes (we’ll see). The Vacation Gals hope that our children, and future generations of travel lovers everywhere, can avoid even this diagnosis. To help meet this end, we’re donating $100 to the Skin Cancer Foundation this month. Really, it’s the least we can do. Well, that, and wear sunblock.
Sunblocks can also reduce the incidence of skin cancer by preventing UV to harm your skin.”,`
skin cancer is rarer than colon cancer but just as deadly`.`
skin cancer is preventable, just use sunblock and also take lots of anti-oxidants”`;
skin cancer is usually caused by UV exposure, therefore, it really makes sense to always use those UV block creams when going o`:~
well, skin cancer incidence would be increasing because of the hole on the ozone layer ;*.
[...] Who doesn’t love the sun, sand and sea? Yet lurking within those words slips another “s” word – skin cancer. As a travel writer, I notice fellow travel writers wearing Ultraviolet Protection resistant clothing and Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) hats. There’s a good reason for this sun-sensitive travel apparel – along with unprotected sun exposure comes skin cancer. In fact, one of my travel writing buddies was recently diagnosed with non-malignant skin cancer. [...]