Sunscreen: you don’t know what you’re missing
SAY we’re a nation of sun lovers is an understatement. While there’s nothing like a good dose of sunshine, the damage we’re doing to our skin in the process isn’t so great.
According to Cancer Council Australia, a staggering two out of three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70. So if you’d like to be the one who isn’t, you need to actually apply that sunscreen hiding out in your beach bag – correctly and frequently. And if the sun safety message is starting to sound like a broken record, there’s a reason why.
Even if you apply sunscreen every day, chances are you’re missing spots that you haven’t even given a second thought. The result? Those spots beting come targets for skin cancer. And it’s our face that’s taking the biggest hit. A recent study presented at the British Association of Dermatologists’ annual conference found that on average people missed 9.5 per cent of their faces when put-TO on sunscreen.
Researchers asked 57 people to put sunscreen on and then took their picture with a special UV camera that highlighted where the skin was properly covered. The most commonly neglected area? The eyes. Roughly 14 per cent of study volunteers missed their eyelids and 77 per cent missed the skin between the inner eye and the nose.
Makeup won’t cut it. Of course, any product with some level of SPF (sun protection factor) will provide you with some coverage, but your foundation alone isn’t enough.
The other most commonly missed areas? The ears (including behind the ears), the decolletage and the back of the hands.