Skin Cancer Foundation has issued and official warning against the recent craze of ‘sunburn art’ that has picked up on the social media over the last few weeks asking people to avoid sunburns at all costs.
The Foundation has said that not only are sunburns painful, but they are dangerous as well because they can cause DNA damage to the skin, accelerate skin aging, and increase your lifetime skin cancer risk.
The Foundation further added that sustaining five or more sunburns during one’s youth increases lifetime melanoma risk by 80 per cent. On average, a person’s risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had more than five sunburns, the official statement read further.
The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends adopting a complete sun protection regimen that includes seeking shade, covering up with clothing, including a broad-brimmed hat and UV blocking sunglasses, in addition to daily sunscreen use.
“Sunburn art” is a type of body art created by exposing certain parts of the body to the sun without using proper sun protection. The result is a sunburn in the shape of a particular image, design or pattern.
Sunbathing more dangerous than driving cars
A recently published study suggests that more people die due to skin cancer than those that die due to traffic accidents. According to spray tan company AURA, Australia registered the highest likelihood of dying of skin cancer compared to traffic accidents at 71 per cent, followed by Ireland at 40 per cent, Spain at 35 per cent, UK at 25 per cent, New Zealand and Switzerland at 12 per cent each and Germany at 7 per cent.
The numbers for skin cancer deaths as officially announced by respective agencies in the countries do not include skin cancer types such as basal and squamous cell carcinoma, and this means that the likelihood may be much more higher, AURA notes.
The statistics also reveal that more number of women are dying from skin cancer than men and experts are blaming the rise in number of women using tanning beds than men. Studies have shown that sunbeds are hotter than the midday Mediterranean sun and they may cause adverse effects on skin including skin cancer.
