I have a confession to make: I absolutely, positively am the worst person I know when it comes to wearing sunscreen. I know all of the big dangers of not engaging in this necessarily daily ritual, but I still allow myself to forget to put sunscreen on every morning.
Now, I say I "allow myself" to forget because there's probably no better way to describe a person who KNOWS she should be putting on sunscreen, at least on her face, and doesn't. Apparently I'm not the only one though, since dermatologists are now saying that, despite skin cancer being the most preventable of the cancers, the rates of lethal melanoma have only been growing.
Readmore ¿Qué más? Sunscreen 101: For your kid's safety
I don't really want to wrinkles and, even worse, I don't want to get skin cancer. And yet I leave the house, even on a HOT HOT HOT day like today, without any sunscreen—not even on my face! You'd think that would be basic place I apply it (again, I don't want wrinkles!) but my mom still never applies sunscreen unless she's putting in a full day at the beach, so I guess I've inherited this terrible trait from her.
Now dermatologists are coming out with harsher warnings about skin cancer than ever before and they are actually SCARING me with the news! Skin cancer rates are continuing to rise in the U.S., despite "ultraviolet overexposure from sunlight or tanning beds [being] easily preventable." In fact, the statistics will scare anyone who's ever forgotten to put sunscreen on even a day: "the incidence of melanoma—the most lethal form of skin cancer—among people ages 15-29 has grown 800 percent for women and 400 percent in the last four decades."
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I'm great at math at all but that seems like a HUGE jump to me! Plus, it IS kind of ridiculous to think that skin cancer could be prevented if only I (and people like me) would actually commit to wearing sunscreen every day like we're supposed to! Well, I'm seriously going to have to start. And you can better believe I'll be teaching my kids this good habit early on, too!
Are you good about wearing sunscreen every day? Are you afraid of getting skin cancer but love tanning? Share with us in the comments below!
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