Enjoy the summer and protect your skin

It’s that time of year when the days are getting longer, the temperature is nudging 20C in parts of the UK and the sun’s warm rays are breaking through the clouds.

While the start of summer doesn’t officially get underway till next month, it’s never too soon to start protecting your skin from the sun’s harsh effects while still getting some much-needed vitamin D.

Cancer Research UK health information manager Karis Betts said there was a common misconception that the sun was only damaging when it’s hot.

“People often think you can’t get sunburn or sun damage in the United Kingdom as it’s not warm enough,” she said. “But it’s all to do with how strong the rays are than how hot it is.”

Betts said it was important for people to keep safe from the sun when it was at its strongest - which was between 11am and 3pm in the United Kingdom.

She said staying in the shade, covering up and using a good sunscreen with at least an SPF of 15 and at least four stars were good ways of minimising the risk of sunburn.

Betts said while Vitamin D from the sun was also important it was not necessary to sunbathe for hours to get the required daily dose.

“In reality, just going about your business, going to the shops, going to work to get a few minutes exposure every day and you would get enough Vitamin D.”

Betts said while anyone was at risk of getting skin cancer, people with fair skin were more at risk than those with darker skin.

Cancer Research UK’s latest figures showed for women born in the United Kingdom after 1960 there was a one in 47 chance (2 per cent) of developing melanoma skin cancer. For men this figure was one in 36 (3 per cent).

The organisation showed that people with freckles, red or fair hair and blue or green eyes, who often burned and rarely tanned, had a risk of melanoma more than twice as high as those with dark brown or black skin.

Overall the largest cause of melanoma skin cancer in the United Kingdom (86 per cent) was “overexposure” to ultraviolet radiation and this was three times higher in people who have had sunburn once every two years or ten times in a decade.

It showed most of these cases of skin cancer (86 per cent) were preventable.

Key things to stay safe from the sun

• Monitor how strong the sun’s rays are with the Met Offices UV index

• Stay in the shade in particular between 11am and 3pm

• Cover up with a wide-brimmed hat and long sleeves when out and about

• Cover exposed skin with sunblock that’s at least SPF 15 and has a four or five star rating