Shocked By So Many Badly Sunburnt People Around

[MarmaladeSandwich7]

I live in Cornwall which obviously gets very large numbers of holidaymakers but I notice locals that don’t seem to know what sunscreen is for either - customers come to my till looking like lobsters! There’s enough information around about the dangers of not using sun protection at all or not applying it frequently enough, yet people carry on regardless. I have a friend with stage 4 cancer which started because of unprotected sunbathing (she ended up with several moles) 😢 The whole situation is worse because of global warming & these extreme temperatures. I would never even consider anything less than Factor 50 yet you can still buy Factor 15. Reckon we are in for a whole load of skin cancer cases.

People don’t care or don’t think it’ll happen to them.

There are threads on here regularly from people who still use tanning beds and from people who are burnt to a crisp asking for the best ways to get rid of sunburn.

I get laughed at for wearing Factor 50 and a cap in the UK 🤷‍♀️

Yeah, people still
believe a lot of nonsense like you can’t get burned in the UK or when it’s cloudy. Just wear sunscreen yourself and offer it to your friends, other people can do what they like.

People are incredibly thick. I once got badly burned in the UK in 1986. Three years ago I developed some BCC in the area. I am now pale and interesting because I cover up and wear factor 50.

I’ve not seen anyone with sun burn. I’m also in Cornwall!
I guess it’s like smoking. People know the risks but think it won’t happen to them.

I hate seeing sunburned children. It’s neglectful.

I’m a factor 50 addict.

People are stupid. And you’d think the youth would be wiser, now we know what we know about the sun and skin cancer, but I hear young women late teens and low 20s say ‘High UV, time to sunbathe!’ I hate seeing sunburnt people, especially children. I’ve only ever had mild sunburn and that was 30 years ago, when you couldn’t easily buy factor 50 (plus I was 17 and cavalier).

My Dad died of melanoma and what it did to his brain was absolutely heartbreaking. In warm and hot weather, I apply my SPF50, wear loose cotton and sit in the shade. If I’m walking somewhere I carry a parasol which probably makes me look ridiculous but I don’t care.

My friend's dd lives in Australia. She says any sun is bad for you and factor 50 is normal in summer and winter.
The UK is very slow to take sun damage seriously.
I had a meeting with a woman who goes to the US regularly, I was shocked by her skin, it looked like old brown leather.

I can’t believe tanning beds are legal @catslovehairties!

I’m always very careful with suncream. But people do all sorts of things that increase their cancer risk - they smoke, they drink, they don’t exercise, they don’t eat well. Alcohol is a group 1 carcinogen but I imagine a lot of the people being superior about never getting sunburnt still drink.

So yes, it’s silly and dangerous. But I’m not sure I really understand the confusion about why people do it as if it’s some kind of outlier, when really people do all sorts of dangerous things.

On suncreams - spf 15 blocks about 93% of uvb rays and spf 50 blocks 98%. Obviously the higher the better, but spf15 isn't as ineffective as you think.

I just think we are still quite new to extreme hot weather and because the rest of the year is usually so miserable people lose their heads when the sun comes out. Hopefully people will start to be more sensible.

Although I admit Im terrible for remembering suncream, I rarely put it on. But I also hate being in the sun so I cover up and wear a hat if Im out, even carry a parasol if its really hot. My 'tan' consists of slightly brown forearms!😄

That is because the UK is very different to Australia.

People who are old enough to know better are the worst for this.

I went away for a trip to Cornwall with some friends, who are in their 60s, a few years ago in mid-June. I’d packed my factor 50 face cream and factor 30 for everywhere else. My friend raised an eyebrow when she saw me applying some suncream on one of our first days. We were due to be out most of the day. “You won’t need that today.” It started off overcast but the sun was trying to come out from about 11 onwards - the dangerously deceptive days, when it is definitely best to be safe than sorry and put suncream on!

I was fine. My friend got sunburnt. Guess who was asking if she could have some of my after sun that evening?

People "in their 60s" are not "the worst". That's just the people you know.
Most people treated for sunburn are aged 5-16 and adults 18-35.
The older group do not present with the same problems

I believe they both share the same sun.

The sun in Australia has a more intense UV level.
Climate change may make the UK just as bad, though.

A friend who has recently had treatment for skin cancer was happily out sunbathing yesterday with no sunscreen on. Some folk are just daft.

Agree - I’ve had stage 3 melanoma and all the horrible treatment and surgeries that went with it, so I get rather triggered seeing people letting themselves burn on my local beach in weather like this.

Not so much cloud and layers of atmosphere which protect us from the sun.

I've always burnt stupidly easy. Factor 50 is a way of life. If you go brown the attitude is it's not a problem.

Yet we still see an attitude in the UK that sun damage is only an issue if everyone is a lobster. No it's a problem if you tan too.

I believe the UV in Australia is more intense.

I think people assume they can’t get burned in the UK - combined with a belief that if they use sun cream they won’t get a tan.

It took me about twenty years of getting burned occasionally (and being miserable for days after…!) to finally grow up and start applying sun cream religiously.

And you know what… I haven’t got burned since. Funny that!

Try again. You’ve merged 2 separate sentences, lovely. They were in separate paragraphs too.

Sentence 1: “People who are old enough to know better are the worst for this.”

Sentence 2: “ I went away for a trip to Cornwall with some friends, who are in their 60s, a few years ago in mid-June.”

There are some benefits to sun - it reduces the incidence of some other types of cancer and that’s not only due to vitamin d, the mechanism is still not well understood. It also reduces the likelihood of developing MS and some autoimmune conditions. So obviously burning isn’t good but it’s untrue to say there’s no benefit at all to sun exposure.

Yep. Because of the layers of atmosphere being thinner and there being less of them.

Think hole in ozone layer.

Cloud doesn’t really protect you, that’s a myth. Up to 90% of UV penetrates through cloud. The UV is stronger in Australia because of the shape of the earth’s orbit.

Yes, good point. Also, because of patterns of migration, many people of Scots/Irish heritage migrated there to have an outdoor life, unaware of the dangers of the intense sun.