i spoke with my dermatologist about sun exposure and skin cancer last year. he completely surprised me by saying that skin cancer is the most survivable of all cancers. and that sun screen truly prevents sun damage (i.e. premature aging) and in his opinion the jury is out about whether it prevents skin cancer itself.
i live in the far north, MT, where for 9 months of the year no one gets good sun exposure because we are so bundled up. having struggled with many fibromyalgia like symptoms for years, a naturopath recommended taking a vitamin D supplement. this helped me enormously this winter. my pain was greatly reduced and my winter depression was much milder. i have noticed for years that i always feel much "brighter" and have less pain in the summer months and now i think this may be vitamin D.
this is probably controversial, but i only use sun screen to prevent actual sun burn (which no one wants!). if i'm out in the sun all day, i wear an all natural, no chemical sun screen (i'm more afraid of the chemicals than i am of skin cancer), a big hat and i seek the shade. but for incidental sun exposure, i welcome the sun and let myself tan gradually so that there is less chance i'll burn. to me, this just seems like common sense. maybe i'll have more wrinkles when i'm 50, but reading the label on the conventional, very effective sun screen bottle just scares me. and i know that i'm getting my vitamin D over the summer without supplements.
i'd love to hear other women's opinions about this topic!
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i spoke with my dermatologist about sun exposure and skin cancer last year. he completely surprised me by saying that skin cancer is the most survivable of all cancers. and that sun screen truly prevents sun damage (i.e. premature aging) and in his opinion the jury is out about whether it prevents skin cancer itself.
i live in the far north, MT, where for 9 months of the year no one gets good sun exposure because we are so bundled up. having struggled with many fibromyalgia like symptoms for years, a naturopath recommended taking a vitamin D supplement. this helped me enormously this winter. my pain was greatly reduced and my winter depression was much milder. i have noticed for years that i always feel much "brighter" and have less pain in the summer months and now i think this may be vitamin D.
this is probably controversial, but i only use sun screen to prevent actual sun burn (which no one wants!). if i'm out in the sun all day, i wear an all natural, no chemical sun screen (i'm more afraid of the chemicals than i am of skin cancer), a big hat and i seek the shade. but for incidental sun exposure, i welcome the sun and let myself tan gradually so that there is less chance i'll burn. to me, this just seems like common sense. maybe i'll have more wrinkles when i'm 50, but reading the label on the conventional, very effective sun screen bottle just scares me. and i know that i'm getting my vitamin D over the summer without supplements.
i'd love to hear other women's opinions about this topic!
July 16, 2008 - 9:00amThis Comment
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