Skin Cancer Rates Rise among Young Women
Clearly the importance of wearing some protection from the sun can’t be stressed enough. More skin care products that contain sunscreen are available. More knowledge about who should wear sunscreen and when and why is out there, but yet, skin cancer rates for young women are on the incline. The increased rates are not because sunscreen isn’t effective.
Why are the Increased Skin Cancer Rates found in Younger Women?
When studies are performed, there is a long list of demographical categories that society can be broken down into. It isn’t just any and all women whose skin cancer rates are on the rise, but young women. It also isn’t young women of a particular race, nationality, economic position, religion, or so forth that’s experiencing this increase of cancer rates; it’s all young women. In fact, a study done by the Mayo Clinic have found that melanoma rates for women under 40 has increased eight-fold since the 1970s.
Some learn of the results of the study and assume the increase is due to environmental factors, and it would be short-sighted not to agree that some of the things that have been negatively impacting the environment have caused the increase, but the reality is that young women are neglecting their sunscreen.
When and Where to Wear Sunscreen
For some reason, many young women have this picture in their mind of the beach and summer sun when they think of sunscreen. The fact is that they should be wearing sunscreen year-round, including fall and winter. The cold weather of the winter months has nothing to do with the cancer-causing UVA rays from the sun. In fact, snow can increase the reflection of these rays, making time spent in the snow the same as time spent in a tanning bed, even if you’re skin doesn’t get visibly darker.
Another misunderstanding is over what part of the body needs sunscreen. Did you know that there’s such think as sunscreen for hair? The fact is that sunscreen should go all over the body for the greatest protection, except the feet, if you’re wearing leather boots. A T-shirt is not enough sun protection and many young women wear tops that show off their backs, bosoms, even waists. All of that skin has to be protected in order to reduce your chances of getting skin cancer. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin naturally is.
Nevertheless, women with lighter skin are more prone to getting skin cancer and one of the main reasons is not heightened sensitivity to the sun, but their love of tanning beds. Tanning beds can be very harsh and harmful to skin, causing skin cancer, among other issues and experts say that the majority of tanning bed users, 70 percent, are young white women.
At Nefertari, our focus is on enhancing beauty through quality skin care products and practices. We encourage you to always apply sunscreen to your skin and make it a normal part of your skin care routine. For more information on how to properly care for your skin, consider getting a skin care consultation from us.
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