- Joined
- Feb 10, 2004
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I have a question, for those of you that are saying the sunscreen companies are the ones wanting us to wear sunscreen (which I won't argue with, I know they want money), but why do you think so many dermatologists are adament about everyone wearing sunscreen? I doubt they are making money from the sunscreen companies .... my dermatologist is always saying how everyone should wear sunscreen all day, every day to prevent skin cancer!
With that being said, I've always thought that if you just do things in moderation you'll probably be fine, unless there is strong scientific evidence to show otherwise! I know that I burn easily (I'm very fair-skinned) so if I will be outside long enough for my skin to get pink, I use sunscreen. Normally though, I'm not outside for more than 5 minutes walking to class, so I don't wear sunscreen. It's just the way my mom raised me ... she always wanted us to go outside "and get some vitamin D" as she'd say, but she also made sure we were wearing sunscreen whenever we'd be outside for a long time or went swimming or something. Which means that fortunately, I have never had a sunburn in my life (ie, my skin never peeled) and I've only had my skin get red and sore from the sun 2 or 3 times. (In high school when I didn't have summer jobs, I'd lay outside and actually get a slight tan, but now I don't have the time.)
However, my parents both spent their whole lives outside (on the beach or on the farm) and had several sunburns when they were younger, and now they go to the dermatologist at least once a year and have him freeze off a bunch of pre-cancerous spots. (When my mom was a teenager the dermatologist told her to use tanning beds until her skin peeled off to cure acne; that probably didn't help either!) The first few times they went to the dermatologist they came home covered in blisters from having the doctor freeze off so many spots; now they usually only have a couple frozen off each year. They are both fair skin (English and German descent) but have skin that's naturally a few shades darker than me, and started seeing the cancerous spots when they were in their 40's.
With that being said, I've always thought that if you just do things in moderation you'll probably be fine, unless there is strong scientific evidence to show otherwise! I know that I burn easily (I'm very fair-skinned) so if I will be outside long enough for my skin to get pink, I use sunscreen. Normally though, I'm not outside for more than 5 minutes walking to class, so I don't wear sunscreen. It's just the way my mom raised me ... she always wanted us to go outside "and get some vitamin D" as she'd say, but she also made sure we were wearing sunscreen whenever we'd be outside for a long time or went swimming or something. Which means that fortunately, I have never had a sunburn in my life (ie, my skin never peeled) and I've only had my skin get red and sore from the sun 2 or 3 times. (In high school when I didn't have summer jobs, I'd lay outside and actually get a slight tan, but now I don't have the time.)
However, my parents both spent their whole lives outside (on the beach or on the farm) and had several sunburns when they were younger, and now they go to the dermatologist at least once a year and have him freeze off a bunch of pre-cancerous spots. (When my mom was a teenager the dermatologist told her to use tanning beds until her skin peeled off to cure acne; that probably didn't help either!) The first few times they went to the dermatologist they came home covered in blisters from having the doctor freeze off so many spots; now they usually only have a couple frozen off each year. They are both fair skin (English and German descent) but have skin that's naturally a few shades darker than me, and started seeing the cancerous spots when they were in their 40's.