As the summer months heat up, Pleasanton residents need to take extra precautions when out in the sun because, while no one likes a sunburn, the harm can be much greater.
“The damage of UV (ultra violet) light adds up over a lifetime, and the ability for the skin to repair goes down,” said Dr. Dean Anthony, a dermatologist with ValleyCare Medical Center. “That’s when people can develop pre-cancer and potential cancers of the skin.”
Wrinkles, aging, loss of skin elasticity and freckles are all unwanted effects of too much sun, but it is the possibility of developing cancer, specifically melanoma, that is the most troubling.
“Melanoma can be deadly if not removed early,” Anthony said.
People with light complexions and blue or hazel eyes or with a history of frequent or severe sunburns are at the highest risk to develop melanoma, said Dr. William Lide, the associate chief for the Diablo area and physician site leader at the Pleasanton Kaiser Permanente office. It is especially important to keep children protected from the sun because sunburns at an early age are one of the leading causes of melanoma, he added.
“Damage before the age of five is more important than any other time because it coordinates most strongly with melanoma later in life,” Lide said. “Parents need to protect their youngest from direct sunlight and put sunscreen on thoroughly and frequently to avoid sunburns entirely.”
That means staying out of the sun, putting on plenty of sunscreen and wearing sunglasses–good advice for children and adults alike. But, while sunscreen is something we’re all familiar with, few use it properly, Lide said. Most people use an inadequate amount of sunscreen and do not re-apply frequently enough. To truly be effective, the body needs to be covered with an ounce of sunscreen, Lide said. It’s also important to remember spots that often times get overlooked, like the scalp of people with thinning hair, lips, back of the hands, ears and sides of the neck.
It’s also important to find a sunscreen that not only protects against UVB rays–the rays that burn–but also UVA rays–the rays that are responsible for tanning. Sun Protection Factor (SPF) only measures a sunscreen’s effectiveness in blocking UVB rays, Lide said. People need to take a closer look at the label to see if the sunscreen also contains UVA blockers, which are called avobenzone or parsol, he added.
Recognizing the importance of sun safety for children, the Pleasanton PTA Council made the issue a key advocacy point this year.
“Skin cancer is the most preventable type of cancer,” said Jamie Hintzke, chair of the PTA Council’s Wellness Committee. To help get the message across to children that putting on sunscreen now can help them later in life, the PTA Council applied for and received a grant from the city of Pleasanton’s Human Services Commission to purchase sun safety videos from the California State Department of Health Services. Pleasanton was the first school district to use these videos, Hintzke said. Each elementary and middle school has copies of the videos, which teachers show during class, and the library also has copies that can be checked out.
The videos teach children the importance of putting on sunscreen and reapplying and staying out of the sun when it is intense, as well as the science behind how UV rays damage the skin and how to read the UV index.
“I absolutely think the video impacts kids because kids feel more like sunscreen is a regular part of their daily routine and parents are nagging less because the kids understand the dangers of UV,” Hintzke said. “At the fifth grade end-of-the-year swim party, the teachers had the kids get out of the pool for a ‘re-apply sunscreen break,’ which is something I’d never seen before, so there is definitely a new awareness.”
Although there has been a district wide push this year, Pleasanton resident Lee Techel has been working on sun safety at Alisal Elementary School since 2001. That was the year her husband passed away eight weeks after being diagnosed with melanoma.
“As I was going through all this, I learned that a lot of your sun exposure happens when you’re a child,” Techel said. “To me, promoting sun safety was something I could do to prevent other people from getting (melanoma).”
Techel, along with Hintzke, began selling hats at Alisal and put the money toward planting trees on the recess field and putting up umbrellas around the lunch area. The two then approached the district to appropriate funds to build a shade structure on the field, giving plenty of shade until the trees grow. Techel also keeps parents informed by sending out a letter to parents at the beginning of the year on the importance of sun safety.
Furthering the campaign, the PTA Council is collaborating with the city to put up signs in city parks to promote “slip, slop, slap, slide.” That is: Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat and slide on sunglasses. Lide and Anthony agreed that is good approach to dealing with the sun, emphasizing that you can never do too much to stay safe.
