Childhood sunburn from the 80s

[Iceniii]

I use to burn a lot in the 80s and probably 90s. DB and I use to have competitions on the largest piece of skin we could pull off. My nose use to peel dreadful. Having watched a non blood relative die of skin cancer, does anyone else really worry? I don't think my parents knew about suncream and if they did it would be factor 6 or 8 once a day. I use factor 50 now but think the damage has been done.

My mum knew about sun cream in the 80s and sun hats ? We needed both as kids,.

My parents tried to stop us burning, but also wanted us to tan a bit (not realising the danger) so occasionally I had bad sunburn when it was misjudged.

It's in the past, I can't change it now, but my dad had skin cancer so I'm far more careful these days.

DS seems to have inherited my dad's olive skin, he tans even smothered in factor 50. I hope the extra melanin protects him (as well as wearing F50 suncream at any hint of sun April-October!).

@rubbletrouble

My mum knew about sun cream in the 80s and sun hats ? We needed both as kids,.

Mine knew about them in the 80s but considered a good 'base tan' to be excellent protection against sunburn. A nice dark tan was something to show off when you got back from your holiday in the Med.

I lived in hot countries in the 70s where it was just assumed we'd burn, then wear a T-shirt over the burnt bits for a few days, then lose the T-shirt.

Yes, 'base tan'! I remember that.

My parents were pretty good with suncream but I definitely have memories of lots of burnt / peeling children on my childhood summer holidays. It seemed quite normal back then

My family were the worst for this. A tan was something to be proud of. My grandad (who lived to a good age and didn’t die of skin cancer) used to oil himself up and sunbathe in his Speedo’s, tucked up his bum. It’s how I remember him now, lovely man otherwise!

Consequently my Mum loved a tan but she’s lost a friend to skin cancer so she can make the real life link and has started wearing cream. She’s also really OTT about sun cream with my kids now which is good.

I burned regularly all throughout childhood and although it scares me I try not to think about it as what can you do apart from be careful now?

My mum didn't let us burn in the 80s. There was sun cream. Maybe not the range of products that you can get now but I only remember getting burnt twice, one was at school on an exceptionally hot day (sun cream was viewed as a cosmetic product and banned along with hats which were not considered uniform items) and another as a teen on a youth exchange. We had a day at the beach and being young I underestimated how often I needed to apply cream. A former classmate died from melanoma a few years ago which I guess reiterated sun safety to the rest of us.

I can remember having horrendous sunburn as a child in the 80’s and 90’s. I remember a caravan holiday in the U.K. when I was about six where my back was badly sunburned in the pool and having to sleep on my front for the rest of the weeks. When I was twelve we went to Spain and I had blisters on my shoulders and my legs were so badly burned I could hardly walk. My DM took me to a pharmacy and the woman there told her off for letting me burn like that.

The great thing about skin cancer is that it's on show, so keep a close eye on your skin.

If you have pale skin with very few blemishes it's easy to spot any new changes. If like me you have a great many moles/blemishes it's harder to keep track of any that change, so I do this with an annual photoshoot and printout.

I remember sunburing so badly it ended up with blisters and dressings over the blisters once they had popped. And the smell of calamine lotion.

My father didn't believe in things like suncream. Thought it was a con and a waste of money. He did once attempt to use baby lotion as suncream which just made things worse, not better.
Mind you, he was an arse in many, many, many others ways.

I had horrendous sunburn one year when I was about 11. Went through layers of skin. The pharmacist gave me an anaesthetic cream for it I’m sure. My shoulder now are bery freckled and I do worry about skin cancer as a result

Fried like a egg every summer.
My parents weren't the sort to want a tan but I genuinely don't think it crossed their minds to prevent it.. I do remember lying on my front while my Gran put a paste of bicarb on my back to soothe the sunburn on more than one occasion.
Had a keratoacanthoma a few years back (like a low grade BCC) and was warned to stay out of the sun. I try.. but I have a dog and am often a mile away from home before I temember sunscreen!

My DM was ahead of her time back in the late 60s/early 70s. She used to put factor 4 on me as I have dark eyes, and factor 6 on my sibling who has blue eyes. Yes, really Never mind that we both have very fair skin.

I got horribly burned several times as a child and now, in my late 50s, I worry about the damage a lot. These days I slather myself in high factor sunscreen but I fear the damage has been done.

My mum (a pale skinned Mediterranean) was very good about putting sun cream on my siblings and I in the 70s. I think as her dad had been a GP she was really sensible about that kind of thing.
When left to my own devices as a teenager however...many sunburns.

In Australia it's pretty common to go for an annual mole check. Privately -but not crazy expensive. Doing that might reassure you that hopefully anything turning dodgy would be caught asap.

I'm a bit of a mixed bag, mum would sometimes insist on T shirts in the swimming pool and at others not bother. One one memorable occasion making me stay in the same place watching a parade while my arm was burning.

I remember in the 1970s a checkout assistant asking if I'd been to Spain because I was peeling and my mum saying, "no, playing out Easter Sunday".

Thanks to my Irish and Scottish ancestry I have skin the colour of porcelain. I never tan and I think I'd worked that out by the time I was in my teens, so I never bothered with beach holidays once I was old enough to not go with my parents.

I also think taking a couple of trips to Australia has influenced me, they had coloured sun block in the early 1980s. Apparently if you took a group of children tot he pool you would 'mark' them all the same so you could a) keep an eye on them and b) see when it needed to reapply.

I'm also a bit confused as to what is actual sunburn, for me there are 3 'types'

1. Skin going red after sun exposure - for me this can happen in the shade, through clothes and even through windows

2. red skin after exposure that goes on to peel

3. Bright red, swollen skin after exposure where the skin comes of in thick curls and leaving permeant scars

type 3 I have had twice, both as a child, type 2 never had as an adult, type 1, lots of times.

I burned a lot when I was young as well. I'm a little paranoid about skin cancer and have had a couple moles biopsied. It's relatively inexpensive to get a private annual check and melanoma is one of the most treatable cancers with best outcomes if caught early. They even have some apps where you can take photos of your moles monthly to keep track of/look for changes.

I will also say though if you go crazy with sunscreen you should do some research. A lot of the chemical based sunscreens are pretty awful for you and can increase risk or skin cancer. Much better to use a physical sunscreen like a zinc oxide based one.

And also to rely on clothing/hats and limit your time in sun (don't eliminate it though as vitamin d from the sun is absolutely critical to get especially in the UK) as well as they work much better than any sunscreen.

There really isn't any point in worrying about it OP. Just keep it in mind and take appropriate action if necessary. I live in a country where the risk of sunburn is worse than in the UK and don't know of anyone who actually "worries" about it, but people have molemaps or visit the doctor if they think something might not be right.

They did know about sunblock in the 80’s, I’m fair skinned and didn’t burn because my dm put sunblock on me.

When I tried to sunbathe as a teenager she’d time me and tell me to come in after 30 minutes with sunblock on.

Thing is I'm a redhead so beaches and tropical conditions its a long sleeved rash vest and boardshorts during the afternoon - also I do boardsports as well. But I like to sunbathe from 15.30 onwards since I do like some sun to my skin in controlled doses.

I also used to expose the babies' bums to unfiltered sunlight for 5 minutes at a time when it was sunny.

I used to be constantly covered in blisters during the summer as a child in the 80's. I was constantly sick with sunstroke. I remember being on holiday in Mallorca and being admitted to hospital it was so bad and put on an IV as I was so unwell.

I know there was less awareness back then but still...

I worry about it quite a lot! My dad had stage 2 melanoma 2 years ago, which spread to the lymph nodes in his neck. Thankfully he's fine now . I had my moles mapped and get them checked now yearly, have had a couple removed because of that (which were benign).

I always remember having the 'crusty back' feeling and peeling a layer of skin off in the 80s - playing out all day - not a drop of suncream - and then when we did wear in on our first holiday - we had factor 4 !!

I am hoping that the Ozone layer was thicker back then and protected us more from the damaging rays (wishful thinking)

I moved to Australia as a teen and was horrified when they told us facts and figures about skin cancer at school. Until then I had spent every Summer competitively tanning. We used to pack suncream and aftersun for every holiday, as it was expected we would burn. I now spend all Summer in the shade but I have so much skin damage. Even when I came back from Australia I used to sunbathe all the time. It's awful.