jor

I don't think a tan is worth the chance of getting melonoma skin cancer. What do you think?

blueaguave

A tan is great. depends on where you are though. I live on the coast in GA. I usually get burned once per season. Not really bad though. Then once I am "glazed" over I wear sunscreen the rest of the summer. I only need SPF 15 though. But dark leathery skin from years of roasting doesn't look good in my opinion

Stephanie

I wear sunscreen (15+), sunhat (or some hat) and apply the cream frequently. However, I refuse to become paranoid about it. In fact when I go South especially, it's too hot to just bake in the sun but I refuse to stay completely out of the sun because that is where alot of attractions are - outside. Actually most Floridians are tan and don't even try to get sun - they just have to go on errands like everyone else, the grocery store, pick up Rx and get a tan on their arms.

Jacqueline1212

Everyone should always wear sunscreen, always, and stay out of the sun as much as possible. A tan is damage to your skin. As a child in the 50's, I spent my summers at the beach , no sunscreen. Who knew then? At about age 35, I started with the first of several basal cell skin cancers. Just had another one taken off my face last week. Now I have stitches, yet another scar and a black eye. Trust me, tans are NOT worth the later cost. Young people always think that it won't happen to them. Wrong. It will.

ellen_griswold

No. I knew THREE dear people who recently DIED of melanoma.
Two of them were in their MID-THIRTIES.
They lived in "CLOUDY" Ohio.

Melanoma is an insidious disease and VERY difficult to treat.
Regardless of how much better you may look with a tan, it is NOT worth it!!!

Stephanie

Some nationalities are more susceptible to it. The Irish, English and Scandanavian people mostly. If I were them I'd stay out of the sun too, not much pigment (melanocytes). However, not everyone who gets sun exposure will have a guaranteed death sentence due to skin cancer. You have to go outside its a fact of life.

Scarlett

Always.
That tiny scar on my leg reminds me every day that I am lucky that I didn't tan as often as some people, that it was caught in time and that I look just as good pale as a leathery brown.

GoTravel

Of course. Anyone who doesn't wear sunscreen is not only stupid, but playing Russian roulette with their life.

bob_brown

A sun tanned skin is damaged skin. People who think it is healthy are misinformed.
Anyone whose skin type evolved north of 48 degrees north latitude has little melanin in the skin and, as a result, burn easily in the south and south west of the US. People have lighter and darker skins based on the area in which their ancestors evolved. The pigment, or melanin, serves two purposes: (1) it controls how much sun light penetrates to make vitiman D; secondly it protects agains skin cancer.

In those of us whose skin type evolved north of the Alps, the uvb and uva rays of the sun mess up the DNA of the cells in the skin and that leads to basal cells, squamous cells, and melanoma. Basal cells never stop growing. If one forms under the eye, the cell can in time invade the eye socket. Squamous cells don't spread like some cancers, but they rapidly become unsightly.

In short and simple terns: Melanoma kills. Once it escapes containment, the victim is done for in most cases. So people who go out and get burned repeatedly are courting diaster.

There are two rapidly increasing diseases in the USA: diabetes and skin cancer. Diabetes is increasing as a function of the huge number of obese people in the population. Skin cancer is increasing because of the depletion of the ozone layers and the fact that large numbers of people insist on getting sunburns. Both diseases in many cases are preventable. But nationally we seem to be unaware of even common threats.

E

Just read an article in the paper today about Vitamin D, citing the sun as the best source for sufficient amounts of it. They're finding a rise in rickets in babies who are exclusively breast-fed (b/c breastmilk contains almost no Vitamin D) because they're never in the sun without sunscreen. The idea is not to "tan"; the idea is to spend 5-10 min. per day in the sun, without sunscreen, between 11am and 3pm. (sunscreen with an SPF of 15 blocks 99% of UV rays, and, therefore, all the Vitamin D)Who knows if this will be borne out by further study, but I found it interesting...

Scarlett

I take Vitamin D every day, one always is out in the sun, unless you are one of the mole people
So I would not look for sunshine to provide me with my daily requirement of vitamins. You also get the daily requirement of damage to your skin

Dori

I cannot believe in this day and age people still ask this question. I, like many others, have had skin cancer (age 29), and I've always been pretty careful (except as a child of course - it only takes one bad burn). No one says you have to live like a vampire and never see the light of day. Wear sunscreen and don't bake yourself in the sun to get your "great tan". Now at the age of 37 if I sound a little defensive it's because I'm sick and tired of people still asking me when I get back from vacation where is my tan and why I'm so white. Is this line of stupid questioning ever going to end???

cnmiranda

I don't wear sunscreen because I stay out of the sun! When on vacation we sit under a shaded tree or canopies. My husband, however, is obsessed with looking young 8-) and always wears sunscreen. I think it's working because people cannot ever believe his age.

justalittlebit

I've always used suncreen and I've always had a great tan regardless. I don't have any funny things growing on my skin, and I don't have any wrinkles, unlike many people my age (34). I've seen lots of 30-somethings with skin like leather jackets, I get carded all the time!

buckeyemom

My German Shepherd had what looked to be a pimple on his head. The vet removed it and sent it in and it was melanoma. The vet said they are seeing more and more cases of melanoma in animals. No more laying out in the sun for Max or either I have to get him a hat.

Surfer

You can start by putting a hat on those weird emoticons. Those bald heads are a natural target for the sun.

Kal

Like this: C

Or look like this:

I have about a 4" scar aross my chest that makes me wear 30+ SPF minimum even when driving around in a car in NoCal or Kauai.
Live and learn...luckily mine was "only" basal cell.

Mahalo,
Kal

k_999_9

Maybe it's just me and my skin type, but I don't think you have to make the chioce between sunscreen and a tan. I always use SPF 15 (at least) when I go to the beach, and I always end up with a dark tan, never a burn.

Can anyone else concur that you can end up with a tan even if you use sunscreen?

justalittlebit

of course you get a tan when you use sunscreen! it takes longer but it's better than the alternative!

GoTravel

k, yes you can tan very darkly with sunscreen but the point is a suntan is SKIN DAMAGE!

I sailed the Abacos about 10 years ago. We were on deck from sun up to sun down for over two weeks. While I religiously wore 30SPF, I ended up with a very very dark tan. To the point where my mother did not recognize me when she picked me up from the airport.

No such thing as a healthy suntan unless it is one of the new airbrush tans or a self tanner.

No sunblock blocks more that 97% of the suns rays.