UBC dermatologist sheds light on sunscreen misconceptions

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Before you head out during the upcoming heatwave, a professor of dermatology at UBC is sharing advice on preventing long-term and short-term damage to your skin effectively.

While there may be uncomfortable short-term effects if you sit out in the sun for too long, Dr. Harvey Lui tells CityNews, he is deeply worried about the long-term effects.

“Excess sun exposure over time makes you look old. So, that gives you premature wrinkles, it makes your skin blotchy. So if you want to stay looking younger than minimize sun your exposure,” he says. “Most importantly, we really are concerned about people getting skin cancer. So the more you’re out there in the sun, the higher the chance that you’re going to eventually, a few years later, get skin cancer.”

Lui emphasizes skin cancers vary in severity.

“The most deadly or the most serious type of skin cancer is melanoma. And that’s the one that kind of is related to moles. So a mole can turn into a melanoma, or you can actually get melanoma showing up on your skin just out of the blue,” he explains. “The reason we’re worried about these melanomas is they start on the skin. But unfortunately, they have a very high chance of spreading inside your body, invading your skin, and eventually going to your liver, your brain, other organs. And this is something that can kill you.”

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If it wasn’t for her daughter’s doctor’s appointment Natalie Richardson wouldn’t have discovered her cancer.

In her youth, Richardson says she would spend a lot of time in the sun. And ever since she could remember, she had a mole on her hip.

But over the course of about six to eight months, it started to change colour, shape and size.

“I was a working, busy mom, so I didn’t do anything about it,” she says.

But one day in a doctor’s appointment for her daughter, “She said Mom, ‘how about you show doctor your mole?’ And so I showed my doctor.”

Richardson was in surgery two days later, bringing “the roller coaster of advanced skin cancer diagnosis.”

“It is awful, it was scary. And I had two young kids at the time. I have twin daughters, and they were 11 when I was diagnosed, and it just turned our family upside down. And it was a really dark period and difficult physically, mentally, emotionally.”

Richardson says she believes not enough people take the right precautions when out in the sun.

She suggest people may think that skin cancer isn’t too serious.

“It’s a life-changing situation,” she says.

“It’s very serious. And unless someone has a direct experience with it, or they’re a family member, they may not understand that, but it is true.”

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Every month, Richardson goes through skin checks, self-examinations and sees a dermatologist every year. She has to get blood work regularly and continues to get CAT scans.

“So it’s always on my mind. It’s never very far away. And seven years ago, I would not have thought that would be a situation I’d be in,” she says.

“The skin is our largest organ. So it’s imperative that we look after it all the time.”

Skin cancer is “very preventable. It’s very treatable, so long as you protect your skin,” Dr. Lui says.

He says while there’s no question that sunscreens work, there are multiple other ways to decrease your chance of harming your skin.

There are four major steps:

• Adjust your behaviour. Avoid direct sunlight at its peak — which is usually between 11 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
• Avoid being in the direct open sunlight and seek the shade.
• Cover up with clothing, hats, sunglasses, long sleeves or long pants, if you can.
• And wear sunscreen.

Lui adds, there is a general rule of thumb to follow when applying sunscreen.

“The reality is, most people don’t apply the sunscreen thick enough. So in laboratory testing, it might be a 50 or 60. But the way people actually use it, they don’t put enough of it on, so their protection they get might actually be half of what’s on the bottle just because of the way people use it,” he says.

“So if you start out with a really high SPF, you’re going to have a better chance that that really is going to protect your skin.”

And for people who are bald, he warns, skin cancer on the scalp is extremely common. So make sure to get a good hat to cover up the exposed area, and use sunscreen.

“The sun is wonderful. We’ve been waiting for it, the sun is what gives us life on this planet. So enjoy it. It’s good to be physically active. Just make sure you take a few extra precautions to protect your skin, and you should be fine.”