Friday, March 29, 2024

Exposure to sun and tanning booths leaves U wrinkled

December 4, 2000

Calling all overly sun-kissed sweet potato faces. Quit your tanning already. It’s December and ’tis the season to be pale, pasty and proud of it. Yeah, yeah, you’re a healthily glowed, dewy-eyed youth now. Overdo it and you’ll look like Grammy’s gator-skin handbag by the time you’re 40 years old.

Besides the fact that the “I lay out in February” scene should have been abandoned in 1992, there are serious reasons that “the pale look” is cooler, indoor tanning remains unnecessary and year-round skin protection should prevail.

I’m not merely bashing indoor tanning. The lamps may blast your skin with damaging rays, but serious sun damage accumulates. Years of skin exposure from regular ol’ sunshine can be just as damaging as a couple of days sipping piña colada on the shores of Acapulco slathered in oil, or time spent in the fake-baker, especially for those of us pale white folk.

No matter what your level of melanin is - stuff responsible for our skin tone - most of the damaging exposure to sunlight occurs before the age of 20. If you scampered around in your diaper to run through the sprinkler, bought tanning packages to stay a cool 1990s brown or mowed lawns to make summer cash, you’ve been a target of UVA and UVB rays, which are responsible for aged skin and most importantly, skin cancer.

So what does it matter? Skin cancer attacks one out of seven Americans each year. Last year one million cases were diagnosed, more than all other cancers combined, according to East Lansing’s Cosmetic and General Dermatology Center. There are three forms of skin cancer, two of which can invade the blood stream, lymph drainage system or other organs and kill you if left undetected.

Luckily for us, skin cancer doesn’t have to be deadly. Suspicious growths can be detected early, surgically removed and burned or frozen off. Sound icky? Well, it’s better than chemotherapy.

Mind your moles and follow the ABCD guidelines to look for signs of malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. These are: A, asymmetrical, as in one half of the mole is unlike the other half; B, the border of the mole is irregular, scalloped or is poorly circumscribed; C, color varies from one area to the other; D, the diameter is larger than the diameter of a pencil eraser.

And spare me the spiel of, “But I only tan before vacation so I won’t burn!” You should be wearing sunscreen all the time, especially during sun-soaked vacations. And I don’t want to hear “Whatever, I’m not gonna wear SPF 15. I’m a man!” I worked on a grounds crew this summer and caught plenty of crap from my sun-stupid co-workers for slathering on sunblock every break. But they should have, too. And I may be a “psycho-skin-protector,” but I’ll be a wrinkle- and cancer- free 50-year-old.

Sunscreens are the best way to protect your skin from mean Mr. Sunshine and his jerk friend, “Look at me, I’m depleted as heck” ozone layer, whose downfall, naturally, is our own fault. Anyhow, sunscreen should have an SPF value of 15 or greater. If you’re swimming or sweating, apply it frequently.

So now you’re wondering how you can squeeze an SPF into your daily routine, here’s a tip: Get one that’s lotion. Noxzema and Cetaphil make a great face lotion that’s inexpensive, not zit fostering and contains SPF 15. Lubriderm makes a SPF 15 body lotion, which you can put on your exposed hands in the dry winter months. Any drug store should carry these. Don’t forget your lips and ear lobes, either. The face, neck, ears, forearms and hands are the most common location for cancerous growths to appear.

And if you insist on being tan as George Hamilton, buy “tan in a can.” Technology has apparently eliminated the streaky-freak orange look and replaced it with a more natural tone.

Please take care of your skin. No one’s going to yell “Hey whitey!” or “Nice look, Casper!” as you walk down the street. If they do, classify them as vain fools as you saunter by, glowing - or perhaps reflecting sunlight - in natural-toned healthy glory.

Julie Keeping, a State News intern, can be reached at keepingj@msu.edu.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Exposure to sun and tanning booths leaves U wrinkled” on social media.