Preventing Skin Cancer: Eight Tips

Skin cancer is dangerous to teenagers and adults. Links between sunburns at an early age and adulthood skin cancer have been identified. People who have received multiple blistering sunburn, especially during childhood, are at much higher risk of developing melanoma.

Protect yourself and your children by following these skin cancer prevention tips.

1. Protect your skin and your children's skin all year long by wearing sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day.
2. Teach your children sun protection habits at a young age.
3. Avoid using sunscreens on infants younger than six months, and keep infants out of the sun at all times during this period.
4. Use waterproof sunscreen and reapply it every two hours.
5. Wear a wide-brimmed hat that shields the face, ears, nose and back of the neck when in the sun. A baseball style cap only protects the front of the face.
6. If possible, avoid the sun during peak hours, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
7. Avoid the use of tanning salons altogether.
8. Have your skin examined at least once a year by a physician.

Contrary to popular myth, tanning does not protect skin from cancer. While statistics showed that people who have the ability to tan are less likely than fair skinned people to get melanoma, even those who manage to avoid blistering sunburns face higher risks through long exposure to the sun -- tan or no tan.

Developing sun safe habits at a young age is important to reducing the risk of developing skin cancer. Encourage good sun protection habits and your children, and continue these have throughout your life.