New sunburn warning

Monday August 29th, 2011

As Britons hope for a late summer heatwave, experts warned today of the risk of sunburn.

Cancer specialists said men, especially, were careless of the effects of unexpectedly hot sun on their skin.

A survey found that fewer than half of men use strong enough sunscreens to protect their skin. The recommended protection factor is 15.

And as many as one in five admitted to not taking sunsreen with them if they were not certain it would be sunny.

The findings came from a Cancer Research UK survey of more than 2,000 people conducted by pollsters YouGov.

The survey found that almost 90 per cent of people have experienced sunburn - and about 50 per cent admitted the burn was bad enough to be painful.

The survey found big differences in attitudes between men and women - with men often relying on their partners to remind them to protect themselves.

Skin cancer victim David Denton, aged 34, of Halifax, Yorkshire, UK, said: “I’m not a sun worshipper, but as a construction site worker I spend about 40 per cent of my working life outdoors.

"The company I worked for said we had to wear T shirts and long trousers to help protect our skin, but it was still easy to get caught out and forget the strength of the sun sometimes.”

Caroline Cerny, of Cancer Research UK, said: "There’s a big gap between what people know and how they behave in the sun. And this report highlights one of the challenges we face in halting the rise in melanoma rates.

"These results indicate that men seem to be worse than women at protecting their skin in the sun."

Tags: Cancer | Dermatology | UK News

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