Dr. Beatrice Wang is a dermatologist practicing in Montreal, Quebec and is also an Assistant Professor of Dermatology and the Director of the Melanoma Clinic at McGill. Dr Beatrice Wang is an independant dermatologist. Coppertone is not responsible for all content proposed by her.
Introduction
Like everyone else, I appreciate sunshine. Especially after a long dark winter, people are happier, moods are brighter, skies are clearer.
But unlike everyone else, every day I see the damage that sun does to skin. As a dermatologist, assistant professor of dermatology, as well as the director of a melanoma clinic, teaching people to protect their skin from the sun is one of my greatest challenges. While the sun does us a lot of good –indeed, we could not live without it– it can also age our skin prematurely, burn our skin, and worst of all, mutate our skin cells and cause cancer.
I have noticed that all of the warnings in newspapers and on television about the damage caused by the sun’s rays seem to provoke two extreme reactions:
- 1) People become so afraid that they feel they should hide from the sun entirely, and then feel guilty if they get some sun;
- OR
- 2) People feel that they cannot protect themselves adequately, or that all that UVA/UVB talk does not apply to them, and so they use sunscreen only sporadically or not at all.
We do not have to fall into either extreme; with some forethought and protection, we can enjoy the benefits that sun can bring us. If we can modify our behaviour, and demystify the sometimes confusing rules of what we need to do to protect ourselves and our families, there is no reason to feel fear.
My goal here is to help provide some of the basic information on how your skin functions, how the sun affects it, what a suntan really is, and how to use sunscreen. We will discuss the different skin types, how SPF really works, how to plan your sun vacation and how to protect your children. As well, I will address some of the misinformation to which you may have been exposed.
While we use physical protection such as shade, parasols, clothes, hats, sunglasses to protect ourselves, we should also look to sunscreen as a tool to protect our skin so that we can safely go outside and enjoy our favourite activities.
Topics we will cover include how to protect yourself from sun, how to choose the appropriate sunscreen, how to apply it and when, and much more. Consistently and correctly applying sunscreen is one of the easiest things we can do in our daily lives to prevent skin health issues in the future.
I hope you find this useful and informative and applicable to your daily life.