The sun and your skin
These lectures are not meant to replace your physician and are
simply provided as a free educational service to all our
visitors. If you feel that you have a skin problem,
please see your doctor.
Many people, especially redheads with freckles,
blondes and those with a fair complexion who burn easily
or tan poorly on sun exposure should be warned about the
dangers of damage to the skin from sun exposure. Many
people who fit into this category have
Scotch-Irish-English or Scandinavian ancestry.
Unfortunately, these warnings often come only after
considerable damage has already been inflicted on the
skin.
The effect of sunlight over the years is to weather
or to prematurely age the skin. While the brown
splotches, thinning, wrinkling, drying, and exposure of
many prominent tiny blood vessels at the surface in
these sun exposed areas are of primarily cosmetic
importance, certain scaling red spots, called ACTINIC
KERATOSIS, are in some cases, of more serious
significance. These can, in a small number of cases,
become skin cancers.
An actinic keratosis can be said to be "going to
college" to learn to become a skin cancer. Fortunately,
natural skin defense mechanisms assure that the "drop
out rate" is high. If they look like they are going to
graduate and become skin cancers, they will have to be
treated with local destructive techniques. These
techniques may include surgery, freezing with liquid
gases, certain acids, electrosurgery, and recently
through the applications of certain externally applied
medications containing anticancer drugs such as
5-fluorouracil.
When an area of sun damaged skin forms a skin cancer
(such as a BASAL CELL OR SQUAMOUS CELL SKIN CANCER),
they are usually only invasive into the local area where
they are growing. For this type of cancer to spread to
other areas of the body by the blood stream or lymph
channels is unusual. Just like a "bad spot" on an apple,
they can be cut off and the rest of the fruit is still
good. Because of the mild character of these cancers in
early stages, they are the form of cancer best able to
be cured by early diagnosis and treatment.
 SUNLIGHT IS A FORM OF X-RAY
The damage to the skin which results from sun
exposure, like x-ray, will accumulate with exposure over
the years. The effect is forever stored in the memory of
the skin and cannot be erased. The effect of sun damage
today is only seen in years to come.
IF YOU STOP ALL FURTHER UNNECESSARY SUN EXPOSURE YOU
WILL PROBABLY STILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP SKIN CHANGES IN
THE FUTURE. BUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO INSULT THE ALREADY
DAMAGED SKIN BY ADDITIONAL IMPROPER SUN EXPOSURE YOU
WILL CERTAINLY MAKE MATTERS WORSE.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TREATMENT OF SUN DAMAGED SKIN
1. A patient with sun damaged skin should visit his
or her clinician at least once a year for a thorough
examination of the skin in light exposed areas.
2. A patient who has had a skin cancer with a sun
damaged skin should keep all follow-up visits until the
cancer is pronounced cured. After that, since he or she
has a better than average chance of getting another skin
cancer, he or she should be seen at least once a year
for a similar examination.
3. Any skin growth in a sun exposed area which does
not heal, bleeds, or keeps growing in size should be
examined.
4. Avoid needless sun exposure whenever possible.
Plan your recreational and nonessential outdoor
activities for before 10 in the morning and after 3 in
the afternoon. This is especially true in the months
from April through October. Between the hours of 10 and
3, even the best sun protective lotion will not give
adequate protection against the damaging rays. They are
like wearing only underwear to keep you warm in
Antarctica.
5. Use a sun protective lotion on all sun exposed
areas from April through October.
6. Wear hats and protective clothing whenever
possible in addition to using the sun protective lotions
to shield the skin from the sun.
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