BLOCK PARTY!
From unlikely burn zones to hidden cancer culprits, what you need to know before hitting the beach
IT’S the time of year dermatologists fear most — when New Yorkers go searching for sun after being inside all winter.
“Protecting yourself from the sun is by far the single most important thing you can do for your skin,” says Dr. Adarsh Vijay Mudgil, medical director of Mudgil Dermatology in Greenwich Village.
UV exposure is likely responsible for 80 percent of visible signs of aging on the face, according to a 2013 study published in the journal Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology.
If that’s not enough to keep you in the shade, consider that more than 90,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma this year, and more than 9,000 will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.
Sun damage is particularly harmful to children: According to a 2014 study, those who’ve gotten five blistering sunburns before the age of 20 increase their risk of getting cancer later on in life by 80 percent.
Here, experts share what you need to know about protecting yourself from the sun this summer — and all year round.
What level SPF do I really need?
There’s really only one number you need to know: “Thirty is the magic number — it’s going to make a huge difference in skin-cancer prevention,” Mudgil says. “Anything below it isn’t doing much.” And anything above isn’t much of an improvement (though it certainly doesn’t hurt). “Between SPF 30 and SPF 100, there’s really only an incremental fraction of a percentage increase in protection,” says Dr. Jessica Weiser, a dermatologist with the New York Dermatology Group.