sun warning

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
sun warning
2
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 1:49pm
Amazing that kids still aren't listening to people about the dangers of tanning and sunburing. Its just like smoking, they won't learn until they see people they know hurt by it… Please let your kids know the facts before they leave the house this summer. http://www.pharmdaily.com/Article/4777/Tanning_Still_in_Style_With_US_Teens.html
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2006
In reply to: supermom2007
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 3:17pm

Yeah....I shoulda listened to my mom 40 yrs ago. She grew up on a dairy farm when a suntan was a sign of a lowly farmer, so she never wanted one and always yelled at us for lying in the sun. We still did it back then being well aware of the cancer risk. It's the "that's too far off to worry about" attitude kids have. I've have cut out articles for my boys to read, telling of guys in their 20's getting fatal, skin cancer, maybe it'll help, maybe not.

After a stressful fall and losing about 7 pounds, my wrinkles are showing a lot, and DS17 lets me know they're there; and I think, gee thanks, you're the cause of them. But I know it's also due to my lack of sun protection in my teen years. I'll can add the wrinkles to my argument when I take the sunscreen over to the soccer bench when the guys start playing again in spring. (No matter how much it embarrasses DS, I continue to push the sunscreen for all the guys.) When the coaches and we adults fail to use sunscreen or go to tanners, it's hard to convince teens to do the right thing.

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http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/october/meet_the_new_health_.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTBYQlQ7yM

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
In reply to: supermom2007
Sat, 01-06-2007 - 8:40pm

This post really hit home for me as I just finished the first of several treatments for numerous precancerous basal cell carcinomas, likely caused by just a few sunburns in the 1950s and 60s, when zinc oxide was the only real option.

Not a big deal at all in terms of medical issues but it sure made an impression on my DD. The treatment was to put a chemotherapy drug all over my face for 14 days. I looked like I had stood on top of Mt. Everest - very very red, peeling, and even some bleeding. Now I'm putting a steroid cream on to reduce the inflammation. It's been a month and I'm close to back to normal. Supposedly most of the lesions are gone but I need to do it again in a year. Again, a very minor problem but wow, did the message sink in for my DD. ("Mom . . . your face . . . ewwww ")

Bottom line - for your teens, watch the sun exposure. And for those of us, ahem, more mature people, go see the dermatologist if you have any little flakey places on your skin that won't go away. I didn't even lay out to tan when I was young (but I did do spring skiing.)