Sunny days are here – get out the sunscreen

May is Skin Cancer awareness month, which is important here in Yuma

Yuma has an abundance of sunshine. It’s glorious to live in a place that is so sunny that it set a Guinness World Record.

With the sun shining 91 percent of the daylight hours of the year (a mean of 4,055 hours per year out of 4,456 possible, Visit Yuma reports), this is in fact the Sunniest City on Earth.

Our amazing sunshine allows for a number of positives. It’s the foundation for our agriculture industry, and tourists and winter visitors alike flock here for our awesome winters and summers on the river. That sunshine also plays a role in the military, contributing to our clear skies that are perfect for flying aircraft.

But that sunshine also comes with an incredible risk, if one doesn’t take precautions.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. The

Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF) reports that skin cancer is America’s most common cancer, with over 5 million cases diagnosed in the U.S. annually. About 90 percent of non-melanoma skin cancers and 85 percent of melanoma cancers are associated with exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, SCF reports – making them preventable, if people take the right steps ahead of time.

There are two critical points when it comes to this conversation: prevention and early detection.

Prevention is as simple as it sounds – taking steps to block those harmful UV rays from the sun and protecting your skin.

SCF recommends seeking shade, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.; covering up with clothing like broad-brimmed hats and UV-blocking sunglasses; applying 2 tablespoons of sunscreen to your entire body 30 minutes before going outside (and reapplying every two hours or after swimming); and avoiding sunburns, tanning and UV tanning beds.

Early detection, meanwhile, means examining your skin from head to toe every month, and seeing a dermatologist at least once a year for a professional skin exam.

Why go through all this? The SCF reports that when skin cancers are detected early, the fiveyear survival rate for melanoma is 99 percent – so it can quite literally save your life.

Readers, this is the darker side of all that sunshine. But you have the power to protect your skin. Be proactive, follow the steps, and visit your dermatologist for an annual checkup!