5 ms·

I think people overblowns it. I live in a rural town in Spain where most people are still farmers ( wineries, olives ). It means most of the men can take up t

I think people overblowns it. I live in a rural town in Spain where most people are still farmers ( wineries, olives ). It means most of the men can take up to 6-7 hours, at minimum, of sun their entire life each day. Its a small town so we know whenever someone dies. In my 27 years never heard or someone died from skin cancer. There have been many lung cancers from smoking, prostata, belly... I dont know where this trend about skin cancer begun, maybe is a think for northen people and not mediterranean that we are more “brown”, and like everything it propagated like fire, trying to sell to you that if the sun hits you without protection youll get skin cancer. Sorry but no

dagw 5y ago
Studies I've seen from Sweden seems to suggest that the big problem is people going from no sun to lots of sun with no 'transition' period. Basically one big cause of the increase in skin cancer is people going straight from 4 month of basically no sun, to spending 2 weeks in Thailand sunbathing on the beach for hours a day. Another factor is altitude. The risk of skin cancer is higher the higher up you are. People who spend a lot time in the mountains are at higher risk compared to people closer to sea level (at the same latitude). Basically if you get a 'constant' amount of sun every day, are below ~1000-2000 m above sea level and stay reasonable covered up (wear a shirt, hat if you're bald etc.) the risks seem to be pretty low.
- StavrosK 5y ago
  Hmm, I wonder if it's that us Mediterranean people have an easier transitional period and have learned to pace ourselves. I'll go out for a walk without sunscreen, but I'll definitely put it on if I go to the beach, when I'm going to be in the sea for an hour without a shirt on. Most people here are pretty tan unless they spend all day in an office.
  - saiya-jin 5y ago
    Which is fine for Mediterranean, but ie rest of europe looks exactly opposite - pale white from late autumn till late spring, very little to no sun exposure per day, sometimes nothing for a week or longer. And then super intense exposure over vacation or sunny weekends. I am not even talking about long hours in the office or covid lockdowns, just regular situation. When its colder then logically people dress more. Add more pale skin by default, meaning less genetic predisposition for good long term protection and the result is what we see.
    - StavrosK 5y ago
      Is that because of cloud cover? Why does it suddenly get much sunnier?
      - egman_ekki 5y ago
        e.g. in Scandinavia you get an hour or sunshine per day in December, and that's at a very low degree above the horizon. In July, you can get more than 12 hours of sunshine per day. And that's for Copenhagen, don't ask about Stockholm...
        StavrosK 5y ago
        Yes but it doesn't go from an hour a day on March 20th to 12 hours a day on March 21st, it's a gradual lengthening. The GP said that it goes from not sunny at all to very sunny suddenly.
        dagw 5y ago
        The big contributor is vacations. As flights and hotels have gotten cheaper and cheaper it is more and more common to take 1-2 weeks in places like Thailand or Bali or Dubai in the winter. So people are going from no sun on their body for 4 month, to spending 10+ hours a day in a bathing suit in extremely intense sun.
jazoom 5y ago
I'm a skin cancer doctor in Queensland. I find skin cancers in patients almost every day. In fact, I think there have only been a few days of working this year where I didn't find one. This is from screening. People in Australia generally understand the importance of skin cancer screening because most people know of someone who's had skin cancer.
- jvidalv 5y ago
  Im not saying that skin cancer is not a thing, but that from my position seems overblown. The fact that seems that if you take sun without sunbathe you could likely get skin cancer is crazy. As I said, I live in a rural place where most people gets lots and lots of sun and I still have to know a single old man having it. And old mans that have taken +8 hours of sun since they are 12. Just my two cents

dagw 5y ago

Studies I've seen from Sweden seems to suggest that the big problem is people going from no sun to lots of sun with no 'transition' period. Basically one big cause of the increase in skin cancer is people going straight from 4 month of basically no sun, to spending 2 weeks in Thailand sunbathing on the beach for hours a day. Another factor is altitude. The risk of skin cancer is higher the higher up you are. People who spend a lot time in the mountains are at higher risk compared to people closer to sea level (at the same latitude). Basically if you get a 'constant' amount of sun every day, are below ~1000-2000 m above sea level and stay reasonable covered up (wear a shirt, hat if you're bald etc.) the risks seem to be pretty low.

StavrosK 5y ago
Hmm, I wonder if it's that us Mediterranean people have an easier transitional period and have learned to pace ourselves. I'll go out for a walk without sunscreen, but I'll definitely put it on if I go to the beach, when I'm going to be in the sea for an hour without a shirt on. Most people here are pretty tan unless they spend all day in an office.
- saiya-jin 5y ago
  Which is fine for Mediterranean, but ie rest of europe looks exactly opposite - pale white from late autumn till late spring, very little to no sun exposure per day, sometimes nothing for a week or longer. And then super intense exposure over vacation or sunny weekends. I am not even talking about long hours in the office or covid lockdowns, just regular situation. When its colder then logically people dress more. Add more pale skin by default, meaning less genetic predisposition for good long term protection and the result is what we see.
  - StavrosK 5y ago
    Is that because of cloud cover? Why does it suddenly get much sunnier?
    - egman_ekki 5y ago
      e.g. in Scandinavia you get an hour or sunshine per day in December, and that's at a very low degree above the horizon. In July, you can get more than 12 hours of sunshine per day. And that's for Copenhagen, don't ask about Stockholm...
      - StavrosK 5y ago
        Yes but it doesn't go from an hour a day on March 20th to 12 hours a day on March 21st, it's a gradual lengthening. The GP said that it goes from not sunny at all to very sunny suddenly.
        dagw 5y ago
        The big contributor is vacations. As flights and hotels have gotten cheaper and cheaper it is more and more common to take 1-2 weeks in places like Thailand or Bali or Dubai in the winter. So people are going from no sun on their body for 4 month, to spending 10+ hours a day in a bathing suit in extremely intense sun.

jazoom 5y ago

I'm a skin cancer doctor in Queensland. I find skin cancers in patients almost every day. In fact, I think there have only been a few days of working this year where I didn't find one. This is from screening. People in Australia generally understand the importance of skin cancer screening because most people know of someone who's had skin cancer.

jvidalv 5y ago
Im not saying that skin cancer is not a thing, but that from my position seems overblown. The fact that seems that if you take sun without sunbathe you could likely get skin cancer is crazy. As I said, I live in a rural place where most people gets lots and lots of sun and I still have to know a single old man having it. And old mans that have taken +8 hours of sun since they are 12. Just my two cents