Skin cancer is the highest incident malignant disease with over 1 million new cases annually. This malignancies develop in the epidermis, dermis, or other structures of the skin and most often are caused by overexposure to both natural and artificial sources of ultraviolet light.
Unfortunately, anyone can get skin cancer, but factors such as skin pigmentation, eye color, freckling tendency and family history may increase one's risk of developing this disease.
A critical variable with a dramatic influence on skin cancer risk is excessive sun exposure in childhood, whether is intense, sporadic sun exposure (sunburn) or chronic sun exposure (tanning). Due to environmental changes, excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation is a growing health concern for children. The ozone layer exhaustion has resulted in loss of planetary "sunscreen" in charge with reflecting and absorbing ultraviolet radiation. This situation increased levels of ultraviolet radiation falling on the Earth.
Protecting children from sun overexposure should be the goal of all parents. This protection doesn't mean complete avoidance of sun light. We refer to specific situations varying from short time exposure to very intense sunlight to long time exposure to a normal sunlight intensity.
Children sun-protection do not require very complicate actions or procedures. It only means to avoid artificial and natural ultraviolet light sources by proper use of sunscreens, shade or sun-protection gear. According to ultraviolet intensity levels the sun precautions or actions include sunglasses, sunscreens, physical protection (hats, umbrellas) and sun avoidance in case of very high intensity.
Valerian D is a freelance writer specialized in health issues affecting adult people and children as well such as cancer | |
