Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Adolescents who are given health-conscious messages about limiting sun exposure and using sunscreen ignore the advice more and more as they grow into their teen years, a new study published in the journal Pediatrics has found. CNN.com reports on the findings, which include sunscreen use that decreases by half between ages 10 and 13:
Researchers studied 360 fifth-graders in 2004 and followed up with them in 2007. Approximate ages were 10 to 13.
“I’m sure the parents had more say in [children's] sun behaviors when they were ten years old- applying sunscreen and keeping them out of the sun more,” said Dr. Stephen Dusza, lead author and research epidemiologist from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
“But as they are growing older and developing some more independence, they’re making their own health decisions and sometimes those aren’t the wisest health decisions,” he said.
The American Academy of Dermatology says rates of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, have been rising for at least 30 years. It is now the most common form of cancer for young adults aged 25 to 29 and is the second most common form of cancer among adolescents and adults aged 15 to 29.
Image: Teenager sunbathing, via Shutterstock.
Friday, November 11th, 2011
The sun’s rays can be dangerous, raising the risk of skin cancers, which is the most common form of cancer in the U.S. A new report from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends that parents, doctors, and media appeal to teenagers’ sense of vanity to convince them to avoid tanning beds, and to wear sunscreen and protective clothing.
CNN.com reports:
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft this week, recommending counseling for people between the ages 10 and 24 years who have fair skin about minimizing their ultraviolet radiation exposure. The group routinely makes recommendations about what sort of preventive services should be used in medical care.
The most effective method for reaching this demographic was using booklets, photographs and videos showing how the sun ages and damages skin. This approach was especially convincing for female teens, who were most likely to use indoor tanning beds.
“Appearance-focused messages were successful at reducing intent to pursue this behavior,” according to the report released by the task force.
“We’ll take what we can get,” said Dr. Virginia Moyer, the panel chair of the task force. “From the standpoint of accomplishing the goal of decreasing UV exposure, that goal was best accomplished using appearance-based counseling.”
(image via: http://howcanigettan.com/)
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
The US Food and Drug Administration has released new guidelines requiring sunscreen manufacturers to label their products in more clear ways, a move which is sure to help parents choose the best sunscreens for their families. Companies have until the summer of 2012 to implement the new labeling rules, which are meant to help consumers understand the difference between protecting themselves from sunburn and staving off premature aging and skin cancer.
The Boston Globe summarized the new rules:
Current sunscreens can claim to offer broad spectrum protection even if they don’t do much against UVA rays — the kind associated with wrinkling, age spots, and skin cancer. The sun protection factor, or SPF, number refers only to UVB rays, which cause sunburns and skin cancer. The new rules will require products to pass an FDA-specified test for UVA and UVB protection to make the claim “broad spectrum.”
Any product that fails the test will have to carry a warning in a “drug facts” box on the back of the bottle stating that “this product has been shown only to prevent sunburn, not skin cancer or early skin aging.” Products with an SPF lower than 15 will also have to carry that warning.
A sunscreen that both passes the broad spectrum test and has an SPF of 15 or higher can make the claim in the drug facts box that it “decreases the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging caused by the sun.”
The American Academy of Dermatology applauded the new regulations. “For the first time, the FDA has clearly defined the testing required to make a broad-spectrum protection claim in a sunscreen and indicate which type of sunscreen can reduce skin cancer risk,” said Dr. Ronald Moy, a dermatologist and president of the academy.
Products with an SPF of 15 — which blocks 93 percent of UVB rays — will have to provide the same proportional protection against UVA rays. “As the SPF number goes up,” said Woodcock, “the UVA protection also has to go up.” Thus, an SPF 30 product would be expected to provide more broad spectrum protection as well.
Dermatologists continue to recommend that people use products with an SPF of 30 or more because, Moy said, they often don’t apply enough sunscreen — the equivalent of at least a shot glass is recommended — or reapply it often enough — every two to three hours is best.
The new regulations don’t allow for listing super-high SPFs like 80 or 90. Instead, these products can be described as having an SPF of “50 plus”. “We have no evidence to show that going above an SPF 50 provides any additional benefits,” [Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research] said.
(image via: http://healthcarenewsblog.com/)
