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.

She was joking 🤭

This line of clothing is great.

https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/women/uv-protection

It's the high UV that's the issue at midday not so much how hot it actually feels

I know, she explained that, but in text I found the original didn't land. Now she's arguing and I don't know why, and you're repeating stuff she's already explained and I don't know why, and I didn't need to be born in 1976 to know you'd need sunscreen in a heatwave, and everyone's hot.

Sunburn almost seems like a badge of honour for some people.

I’d rather not be in pain thank you.

Hat, t-shirt and suncream.

@HoppityBuninteresting! my DS burned on Tuesday so it’s probably too late for him. I’d need to give him 25 of the vitamin D tablets I have at home which I obviously won’t do as he’s a child but will be interesting if this treatment becomes mainstream.

Yes this is it. As if somehow there’s a different sun in Spain compared to uk

It’s so easy to track the UV with smart phones. I have a widget permanently on my Home Screen showing the UV in my location. It’s great because sometimes in the UK the UV is stronger than you’d assume based on the weather.

It is hotter in the afternoon but UV generally is stronger around 11-2/3, for example UV index for London today: https://www.uvindex.app/results?lat=51.5074456&lng=-0.1277653
It’s not the heat that burns you.

I tan easily, in fact I am sporting a lovely golden colour, but my Dad has had skin cancer (he wasn't a sunbather either) so I always slap on factor 30 and wear a hat if I'm out in the sun all day.

I remember 2 friends comparing their 'tans' only they weren't tanned just really burnt and both fair haired and fair skinned.

Very elderly people here in Somerset wearing shorts and teashirts and no hats whatsoever just sitting around getting baked.
No wonder our A&E is full.

Carrying a parasol doesn’t make you look silly, it makes you look like a tourist. Or it makes you look like you take care of yourself.

I've seen quite a few people carrying umbrellas as parasols. The only ones who look silly are the ones using completely clear, transparent, colourless ones.

It’s like sun beds . I wonder who uses them and why they aren’t banned .

No, people like me (50s) present with BCC and melanoma - both surgically removed for me because sun cream was almost unheard of in 70s and 80s. You burnt, you were in pain, you kept a tshirt on next day and you'd peel lengths of skin from your arms... It was the norm! Well it was for my childhood.
My brother has also had several moles removed.

I do agree though that teens are a nightmare. My 16 year old insisted she'd put cream on, we were in tge Canaries in August. I said put some more on, keep putting it on... Tut tut, I'm the palest person here... Well she fibbed and for the first time ever she got burnt. Nothing compared to my youth, but pink enough and sore enough to realise - it's a bad look and not worth it.

Makes me wince remembering times in my youth when I’d get blisters and peel. Loads of people walking around my city looking burnt to a crisp at the moment, men with their tops off and skin peeling off their shoulders, women with bright red strap marks and chests. I have no real idea why people don’t get it, the message has been out for a long time I think people just assume they’ll be ok or don’t think about it at all.

I can put factor 50 on and get massive blisters from sunburn and bright red skin, not much I can do about that besides not venture outside 🙄

I was on holiday in the Med last week on a resort with mostly British tourists. The vast majority were either burnt or sporting mahogany tans. The sun shades over the loungers around the pool were made of rattan and weren't big or robust enough to give proper shade so I spent £££ on a private cabana. Lucky me to have the choice to do that.

Agree @AlgaeDreams. The youngsters are presenting now with acute sunburn- and then many of them will be the ones presenting in 30-odd years with melanoma.

My Dad’s melanoma was on his back. He told the dermatologist he couldn’t remember burning there, being as he was a very sensible sort of chap who didn’t sunbathe, rarely went shirtless, and always used SPF when out in the sun. The dermatologist told him it likely came from a burn in childhood- quite possibly just one bad incident of burning. He grew up in the 1950s very close to the beach where he spent a lot of time with his siblings. I assume SPF wasn’t readily available then, if it existed at all.

Yup, I'm also bemused by this. I've been at the outdoor pool a lot over the last few weeks. We usually go late afternoon, after school. And the people we see sitting there, in the full sun, bright red but still baking, is really confusing.

I mean, it can't be comfortable either?!

And as PPs have said- it isn’t just melanoma to consider! I have a lovely neighbour in her 60s who was a real stunner in her youth. Although I love her very much as a person, she unfortunately looks significantly older than she is thanks to sun damage over decades of sun worshipping. Probably one of the reasons why many older south East Asian women look way younger than they are with beautiful skin- because they have habitually avoided the sun.

I cover myself in factor 50 yet if I have to be out in it, ie the school run, I still go red even with the factor 50. It's awful.
I've seen tons of people and articles on social media now saying suncream actually causes cancer. I'm still gonna take my chances with sunscreen though

🙄🙄

Just one severe or blistering sunburn—especially in childhood or adolescence—more than doubles your chances of developing melanoma. Skin damage from the sun is cumulative, meaning the more you burn, the more your lifetime risk of skin cancer increases.

https://melanomafocus.org/news-blog/childhood-sunburns-are-raising-the-risk-of-melanoma-skin-cancer/

I have a couple of family members who never use high factors unless abroad. They sunbathe a lot and what they call a tan I call bright red. I really worry about their health down the line 😞 they also make fun of me covering my 4 year old in factor 50.