to be astounded at the number of people stripped off sunbathing in the park when everyone knows how BAD that is for you?

[LadyBiscuit]

In an era when smoking is more or less banned and the government spends a fortune telling us to eat better and drink less, why are so many people so obsessed with getting a tan when we all know how bad it is for you?

Apart from skin cancer, all the sun worshippers I know look much older than they really are because they are so lined from lying in the sun.

Yeah, I kind of agree with you on this one. After all, after the whole tanning ritual; the cream, the burning, the after sun cream. I don't think some people look any better with overly tanned bodies.

But, I have actually spent a lot of time outside of the studio where I work - and I have developed a tan, which makes me feel a little healthier. I'm no great fan of sitting on a beach though, even though it is nice to have a snooze or two once in a while.

There were certain stories which said a lot of these lotions aren't very good for you. You should apply the rule that you wouldn't want to put anything on your skin that you wouldn't want to put in your mouth. Which is kind of fair advice, as your skin absorbs any moisture into the body. So chemicals galore end up floating about within our precious bodies - and who knows what long term effects that may cause.

your skin is a barier, and moisture does not "go in", imagine what would happen if you`d go swimming!

Sun cream is a mixture of water, oil and titanium dioxide. The Titanium dioxide is the sun screan. It does not get absorbed by the body.

Anyway, back to the topic.

A dark tan, or sunburn, seems to be a silly thing to go for.

BUT, staying out of sunlight and living like a vampire is not (yet) necessary. It is like drinking, smoking or eating sugar (and other things that are bad for your health) and will most likely not kill you in moderate doses.

Catching a bit of a tan whilst out for a walk, or gardening does not equal full body sun exposure for hours on end.

a hint of golden does not equal lobster.

Personally, I think that YANBU as I am astounded at the number of burnt people walking around atm.

I work in Dermatology and spend the majority of my time assisting with surgery for all types of skin cancer. I think that I may print this thread off and show it to my colleagues. It is fascinating to hear the range of views on sun safety. There is currently a project going on to try and make the labelling and advice on sun screen clearer. This may help to clarify some of the sun safety message when changes are made.

This thread just goes to show that it's about time that there was good and consistent advice available about sun safety, including how to get sufficient vitamin D without putting yourself at risk.

GOML the same thing happened to me with the fake stuff. It really sparkles! I only noticed when we were out having lunch and had to get DH to change places with me so I wasn't sitting in the sunlight twinkling away like Edward Cullen

That's interesting Swaliswan. So is lying sunbathing in the middle of the day really bad for you then?

FWIW I wasn't suggesting there should be a government campaign, just mildly amused at what the government focus their energies on

The general advice is to avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm if possible (let's face it though, that's not exactly practical for most of us). However, you can reduce your risk of getting sun damage and skin cancer. If you want some comprehensive advice on looking after yourself in the sun, I would suggest you go and read the articles here. The only thing I would say is that most of our consultants and Nurse Specialists would advocate using at least factor 30 in such a high sun index as we're having right now (or factor 50+ if you've already had a skin cancer). Those pages also offer advice about vitamin D.

BTW, I know that you weren't suggesting a government campaign. I wish that we could have one to do some myth busting especially after reading some recent magazine articles.

Swaliswan - thankyou. I agree that clearer guidelines would be really, really good - there's so much conflicting information.

I might know a heck of a lot about melanoma but I am still unclear as to how best to prevent it.