Your skin cancer risk has increased because of climate change. Your children are even more likely than you are to get skin cancer because they have been under a thinner ozone layer for their entire lives. Your grandchildren are almost certain to get multiple skin cancers. I am not telling you about this stuff just to worry you. I want to worry you enough for you to take action to protect yourself and your loved ones from skin cancer.
This increased skin cancer worldwide is due to climate change making Earth's protective ozone layer thinner. The ozone layer reduces the amount of harmful ultraviolet light that reaches us. Less of an ozone layer means more skin cancer for us.
Humans are not the only ones getting more skin cancer. Animals, especially light colored ones, are also getting more skin cancer. Animals are most affected when they have light colored ears and noses.
The worst part of the chemicals that humans have put into our air were CFLs, or chlorofluorocarbons. They were in most of the old spray cans that are not used now that we found out how harmful they were to us and the environment we live in. We are not safe just because we stopped putting the worst stuff into our spray cans. Human activities cause many more greenhouse gases to be released into our atmosphere, where they continue to make our ozone layer ever thinner.
We do need to stop doing things that make our ozone layer keep getting thinner. That is not likely to happen overnight. While we work on not making the ozone layer thinner, there are things we can do to lower our risk of skin cancer. In case you didn't read my previous post, malignant melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can kill you in as little as two weeks. Skin cancer is not something you should ignore.
'
Children are at greatest risk of getting skin cancer, so it is important to payspecial attention to protecting them. The things that you will do to protect against skin cancer are just about the same for adults and children. You need to be more careful with children since their skin is more delicate and they will spend their entire lives exposed to a greater amount of ultraviolet light that comes through our thinner ozone layer. You will also need to find things like sun block especially made for children.
Dermatologists, or skin doctors, have been saying that we have an epidemic of skin cancer worldwide. They have been trying to get people to protect themselves from skin cancer for years. They have some good suggestions that you can learn about to protect yourself and your loved ones from getting skin cancer. Not very many people get malignant melanomas that can kill you in two weeks, but you can still die or be very miserable from the slower types of skin cancer. Skin cancer is something you want to avoid, even if you don't entirely like what you have to do to avoid it.
The basic idea to avoid skin cancer is to not let ultraviolet light on you. This includes your eyes as well as your skin. Ultraviolet also causes cataracts which can make you go blind. Cataracts can be cut out by a surgeon, but most people prefer not to have surgery if they can avoid it. Sunglasses are the primary way to avoid cataract surgery.
Your sunglasses need to protect against both UVA and UVB types of ultraviolet light. You need to make sure your sunglasses have a sticker on them that says they protect against both kinds of ultraviolet light, or UVA and UVB. It is necessary to protect against ultraviolet light that comes around your sunglasses as well as what come straight into your eyes. A type of wrap around sunglasses that may be called aviator sunglasses are pretty good for protecting against ultraviolet light that hits your eyes from the top, sides and bottom of the glasses. Try them on and see where light gets around the sunglasses. If there is a lot of light hitting your eyes when you try the sunglasses on, then you need to find a different pair.
I know you will probably not like the idea of trying to get, and keep, sunglasses on an infant or toddler, but they need the protection for their eyes even more than you do. It will help if they see you cheerfully wearing sunglasses. Patience will help a lot.
You and your loved ones need to cover up and use good sun block to protect the rest of you. Hats, long sleeves and clothes that cover your entire legs will help.
Staying out of ultraviolet light whenever possible is a good idea. Dermatologists are recommending that we stay out of the sun during the times of day when ultraviolet light is strongest, between 10 am and 2 pm. The times here are not agreed upon by all of the experts. Some of them say 9am to 3 pm. As the ozone layer keeps thinning we will need to go with the 9-3 suggestion, even if we don't start now.
Sun block is another form of protection that you need. You definitely need to have sun block and use it. Make sure your loved ones do the same. What kind of sun block you need is not as easy. The higher the SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, the longer you can safely stay in the sun. I have seen SPF as high as SPF 100. One would think that the higher the SPF of a sun block, the better. Vampires would do best with very high SPF numbers, maybe not so much for the rest of us.
Most sun block will stop working as well if you go swimming or sweat a lot. This means that you will have to put on more sun block. A surfer invented a type of sun block that stays on better when wet. That might help protect you better.
The bad news about sun block is that some people say that the higher SPF numbered sun blocks are bad for you. I am not sure who is right, the higher SPF number advocates or the ones who say higher SPF number sun blocks are bad for you. I decided to split the difference and use a SPF 30 or so most of the time. I expect i will express my opinion on the matter when I think I know enough about it.
Window films are another thing you can use for protection from too much ultraviolet light. If you sue window films you need to look for some that will work for both UVA and UVB. They have ultraviolet film for car windows too. If you want to protect yourself and your loved ones well, you need to think about your car windows.
One thing that greatly discourages me about the human race is a general failure to protect children from the consequences of our lousy stewardship of our wonderful environment. We are ovedue to for some behavioral changes to take better care of children. The biggest offender is lunchtime recess.
This was a fine idea a generation or more ago. It is a terrible idea now and badly needs to be done differently. Midday is not a safe time to send children out into the worst time of the day for ultraviolet light exposure.
I thought that some people will want to read more expert advice on avoidin skin cancer, so here is a link:
Cutaneous Melanoma: Background, Pathophysiology, Epidemiology
That was not the link I meant to give you, here it is:
Prevention Guidelines - SkinCancer.org
Okay, on that note, I will end this post since it is getting too long. I plan to write about ideas for protecting people, especially children, who are exposed to too much ultraviolet light now. I also want to write about keeping your pets safe from skin cancer.
This increased skin cancer worldwide is due to climate change making Earth's protective ozone layer thinner. The ozone layer reduces the amount of harmful ultraviolet light that reaches us. Less of an ozone layer means more skin cancer for us.
Humans are not the only ones getting more skin cancer. Animals, especially light colored ones, are also getting more skin cancer. Animals are most affected when they have light colored ears and noses.
The worst part of the chemicals that humans have put into our air were CFLs, or chlorofluorocarbons. They were in most of the old spray cans that are not used now that we found out how harmful they were to us and the environment we live in. We are not safe just because we stopped putting the worst stuff into our spray cans. Human activities cause many more greenhouse gases to be released into our atmosphere, where they continue to make our ozone layer ever thinner.
We do need to stop doing things that make our ozone layer keep getting thinner. That is not likely to happen overnight. While we work on not making the ozone layer thinner, there are things we can do to lower our risk of skin cancer. In case you didn't read my previous post, malignant melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can kill you in as little as two weeks. Skin cancer is not something you should ignore.
'
Children are at greatest risk of getting skin cancer, so it is important to payspecial attention to protecting them. The things that you will do to protect against skin cancer are just about the same for adults and children. You need to be more careful with children since their skin is more delicate and they will spend their entire lives exposed to a greater amount of ultraviolet light that comes through our thinner ozone layer. You will also need to find things like sun block especially made for children.
Dermatologists, or skin doctors, have been saying that we have an epidemic of skin cancer worldwide. They have been trying to get people to protect themselves from skin cancer for years. They have some good suggestions that you can learn about to protect yourself and your loved ones from getting skin cancer. Not very many people get malignant melanomas that can kill you in two weeks, but you can still die or be very miserable from the slower types of skin cancer. Skin cancer is something you want to avoid, even if you don't entirely like what you have to do to avoid it.
The basic idea to avoid skin cancer is to not let ultraviolet light on you. This includes your eyes as well as your skin. Ultraviolet also causes cataracts which can make you go blind. Cataracts can be cut out by a surgeon, but most people prefer not to have surgery if they can avoid it. Sunglasses are the primary way to avoid cataract surgery.
Your sunglasses need to protect against both UVA and UVB types of ultraviolet light. You need to make sure your sunglasses have a sticker on them that says they protect against both kinds of ultraviolet light, or UVA and UVB. It is necessary to protect against ultraviolet light that comes around your sunglasses as well as what come straight into your eyes. A type of wrap around sunglasses that may be called aviator sunglasses are pretty good for protecting against ultraviolet light that hits your eyes from the top, sides and bottom of the glasses. Try them on and see where light gets around the sunglasses. If there is a lot of light hitting your eyes when you try the sunglasses on, then you need to find a different pair.
I know you will probably not like the idea of trying to get, and keep, sunglasses on an infant or toddler, but they need the protection for their eyes even more than you do. It will help if they see you cheerfully wearing sunglasses. Patience will help a lot.
You and your loved ones need to cover up and use good sun block to protect the rest of you. Hats, long sleeves and clothes that cover your entire legs will help.
Staying out of ultraviolet light whenever possible is a good idea. Dermatologists are recommending that we stay out of the sun during the times of day when ultraviolet light is strongest, between 10 am and 2 pm. The times here are not agreed upon by all of the experts. Some of them say 9am to 3 pm. As the ozone layer keeps thinning we will need to go with the 9-3 suggestion, even if we don't start now.
Sun block is another form of protection that you need. You definitely need to have sun block and use it. Make sure your loved ones do the same. What kind of sun block you need is not as easy. The higher the SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, the longer you can safely stay in the sun. I have seen SPF as high as SPF 100. One would think that the higher the SPF of a sun block, the better. Vampires would do best with very high SPF numbers, maybe not so much for the rest of us.
Most sun block will stop working as well if you go swimming or sweat a lot. This means that you will have to put on more sun block. A surfer invented a type of sun block that stays on better when wet. That might help protect you better.
The bad news about sun block is that some people say that the higher SPF numbered sun blocks are bad for you. I am not sure who is right, the higher SPF number advocates or the ones who say higher SPF number sun blocks are bad for you. I decided to split the difference and use a SPF 30 or so most of the time. I expect i will express my opinion on the matter when I think I know enough about it.
Window films are another thing you can use for protection from too much ultraviolet light. If you sue window films you need to look for some that will work for both UVA and UVB. They have ultraviolet film for car windows too. If you want to protect yourself and your loved ones well, you need to think about your car windows.
One thing that greatly discourages me about the human race is a general failure to protect children from the consequences of our lousy stewardship of our wonderful environment. We are ovedue to for some behavioral changes to take better care of children. The biggest offender is lunchtime recess.
This was a fine idea a generation or more ago. It is a terrible idea now and badly needs to be done differently. Midday is not a safe time to send children out into the worst time of the day for ultraviolet light exposure.
I thought that some people will want to read more expert advice on avoidin skin cancer, so here is a link:
Cutaneous Melanoma: Background, Pathophysiology, Epidemiology
That was not the link I meant to give you, here it is:
Prevention Guidelines - SkinCancer.org
Okay, on that note, I will end this post since it is getting too long. I plan to write about ideas for protecting people, especially children, who are exposed to too much ultraviolet light now. I also want to write about keeping your pets safe from skin cancer.
