Skin Cancer and Sun Safety

Poor sunscreen use putting lives at risk

Author: racheln

Nine out of 10 people in the UK are putting their health at risk of skin cancer by not using the right amount of sunscreen or failing to use it at all.

The findings come from Cancer Research UK and Superdrug, who surveyed 2,140 people across the UK on their sunscreen usage. Only one in 10 people knew that they used the recommeded amount of sunscreen (two tablespoons) to cover their whole body when wearing a swimsuit or trunks, whilst 20% admitted that they don’t bother using sunscreen at all.

The survey found a considerable degree of confusion over how often sunscreen needs to be reapplied, both in the UK and when abroad. In the UK, 72% of people using sunscreen don’t bother to reapply it during the day and 49% of those on holiday abroad simply use sunscreen once a day, despite the recommendations to reapply it every couple of hours.

Forty-two per cent of people in the UK admitted to either regularly forgetting to apply sunscreen or never using it at all and nearly half of all those surveyed expressed confusion about what SPF means and the protection offered by different sunscreens. Worryingly, many thought that an SPF30 sunscreen offers double the protection of an SPF15 sunscreen, when this is not the case at all.

For more details about the importance of sunscreen, how to apply it and insight into SPF, then check out Skin Cancer and Sun Safety: The Essential Guide.

Tags: Sun Safety, Sunscreen
April 18th, 2010  |  Posted in New Research, Sun Safety, Sunscreen  |  Comments Off