Cloudy summer but sun's dangers as great as ever
At a time in the summer when information about sun protection might be greeted with the question “What sun?”, a leading expert has warned that it is critical for people to remain aware even though the clouds appear to have the upper hand.
Dr Cormac Convery, one of the UK’s leading aesthetics specialists and medical director at the award-winning Ever Clinic, said that, regardless of the weather, the sun still emits UV light and has to be guarded against.
He pointed out that while UV levels are obviously higher under blue skies and cloud cover does tend to reduce exposure, more than 90% of UV rays can still pass through a light cloud cover and cause sunburn. He also pointed out that people can burn through car windows.
Dr Convery’s Glasgow-headquartered, private aesthetics facility has led the way in skin, scarring and anti-aging procedures and has brought new hope to patients let down by the NHS. He said that he is seeing increasing numbers of cases of skin cancer, which is often caused by sun exposure.
He said: “No matter what the weather is doing, people need to protect their skin from the A and B bands in UV radiation, which are transmitted through the atmosphere. UVA has the longest wavelengths, but UVB – while it does not penetrate as deeply as A – damages cells and causes DNA mutations which can lead to melanomas.
“A lot of patients say that they have a sun protection factor incorporated in their make-up but, while SPF can provide some level of safety, the truth is that it’s not really sufficient on its own.
“The other big issue is that, although many people will willingly use suncreams and lotions, the evidence suggests that they are not using enough of it. This is understandable, since it is expensive and people want to eke it out, but the fact is that, if you don’t put on enough, and regularly top it up, you might as well not bother.”
Dr Convery also stressed that young children were particularly at risk and parents needed to be very conscious of the dangers of burning tender skin, since burning is linked with later incidence of melanoma.
He said people were wrong to assume that a wide-brimmed hat is the answer. Even if a sun hat shades the face completely it may only reduce sun exposure by around 50% as indirect UV can reach skin, depending on where the wearer is, by bouncing off the surfaces round about.
He added: “The real solution is to take a leaf out of the Australians’ book and wear a hat, use sun cream and avoid the times of day when the sun is most intense, particularly if you have fair Celtic skin as so many people in Scotland do.”
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