Caring for Your Skin This Summer

After a bitterly cold, freezing, and gloomy winter, it’s no surprise that the first rays of sunshine and glimpse of warm weather bring joy to our hearts. Summer is coming, and with it, plans to take advantage of every moment.

Whether you’re gardening, lounging by the pool, boating, fishing, cycling, hiking, or dirt biking, it’s important to remember the harmful effects of sun rays on your skin.

Sun rays combine a range of energy spectrums – visible light (which we see), ultraviolet (UV), and infrared waves. Ultraviolet waves are further divided into UVA, UVB, and UVC. UVA is responsible for various sun-induced aging signs, such as wrinkling and loss of elasticity; UVA also increases the level of damage from UVB. UVB rays increase the risk of skin cancer and cataracts. UVC waves do not reach the Earth’s surface as they are absorbed by the atmosphere.

The body’s defence against sun damage is a pigment called melanin. Melanin absorbs the damaging ultraviolet rays of the sun. It goes to show that the lower the skin’s melanin content, the higher the chances of sun damage. This is why fair-skinned individuals are at the most risk of sun and eye damage. However, any skin type can be damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet rays depending on the intensity, duration, and recurring pattern of exposure.

A suntan is the result of the body’s response to injury from the sun. A sunburn occurs when the amount of UV damage is more than the protection the given person’s melanin can provide. While a small amount of sun is pleasurable and healthy, overexposure can be dangerous. Apart from acute conditions like sunburn and heatstroke, repeated and intense sun exposure can cause the following:

Freckles – small, round, brown, or beige spots usually on sun-exposed body parts.

Melasma – also called chloasma, is an abnormal patch of skin discoloration, typically around the face. Other known risk factors for melasma include a strong hormonal influence like pregnancy or use of the combined oral contraceptive.

Age spots or solar lentigines – brown flat spots (usually larger than freckles) that appear from chronic exposure to ultraviolet rays. In some cases, cancer can develop from age spots.

Actinic keratosis – rough, scaly brown, or red patches on sun-exposed areas. They are very concerning as they can transform into invasive cancer.

Skin cancers – sun damage is associated with a few types of primary skin cancers. Bowen’s disease is a localized superficial cancer of the skin. It mainly appears as a red, crusty plaque. Basal cell cancer is a locally invasive cancer with a variety of appearances, from a “zit” that won’t go away to a spot that bleeds when touched or a small non-healing sore. Squamous cell cancer can grow to a few centimeters if not detected early. Melanoma is the least common form of skin cancer yet the most difficult to treat. Treatment success depends on early diagnosis and removal. Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer that often presents as irregular brown or black moles but can be red, blue, or white.

Cherry angioma, though more age-induced, can also appear due to sun damage. Cherry angiomas, also called red spots, are not cancers, but people often have them removed either for cosmetic reasons or due to bleeding from getting bumped. However, because some melanomas may be red, it is important to have any changing lesion looked at.

Caring for your skin and your family members’ starts with sun safety. Firstly, regular and frequent daily use of broad-spectrum (against both UVA and UVB) sunscreen with at least SPF 30 (Sun Protection Factor) is necessary. Secondly, protective clothing must be worn. This includes long-sleeved tops and pants made from tightly woven fabric, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses. Additionally, it is important to seek shade appropriately. The sun is strongest between 10 am and 4 pm, and it is best to use shade during this period. When covered by shade, it is important to remember reflective surfaces like sand and water can reflect sun rays into the shade. Lifestyle measures to minimize UV skin damage also include getting vitamin D through a healthy diet.

Regular skin examination offers the opportunity to identify suspicious lesions and monitor them for changes or simply discover newly appearing lesions. The use of Total Body Photography for mole mapping is now common. For this summer, a set of total body skin photos taken in early spring can be followed with another session in the fall to look for changes in existing moles or identify new lesions that may have appeared over the summer.

Treatment of many sun-induced benign conditions includes skin peels, dermabrasion, laser, cryotherapy, cautery, and medications for local application. For suspicious lesions, removal and analysis offers a good chance for early diagnosis, especially for melanoma.