The dark side of the sun
Overexposure to sunlight is widely accepted as the underlying cause for harmful effects on the skin, eye and immune system. Lawrence Scerri believes that adopting some simple precautions can make all the difference. Shade, clothing and hats provide the...
Overexposure to sunlight is widely accepted as the underlying cause for harmful effects on the skin, eye and immune system. Lawrence Scerri believes that adopting some simple precautions can make all the difference. Shade, clothing and hats provide the best protection - applying sunscreen becomes necessary on those parts of the body that remain exposed like the face and hands.
Why do most children and adults alike look forward to summer? Why do tourists from northern Europe flock in hoards to the sun-drenched Mediterranean shores for their summer holidays? Why does one prefer to wake up to a bright sunny day as opposed to a miserable overcast sky? The answer is obvious. Sunny weather is conductive to enjoyment, outdoor fun and above all, a cheerful mood. The almost magical influence of the sun on human behaviour means that this supreme natural source of light is far from losing its charm.
Long before suntan lotions were invented, in fact before the Industrial Revolution, bronzed bodies belonged to manual labourers. To be brown in those days was a symbol of low social class. Pale, porcelain skin was in vogue, mainly because rich people stayed indoors. But as machines began to appear, the working classes left the fields for factories. As they turned a whiter shade of pale, the rich turned progressively browner. Sporting a tan meant you had money and could afford a leisurely outdoor life. But it was when trend-setter Coco Chanel returned from a Mediterranean holiday with a deep golden tan, that bronzed skin became truly desirable. Before long, skimpy swimwear appeared, with slim shoulder straps, which could be lowered to keep an even tan. And then in the 1940s suntan lotion hit the market. At that time it was designed to assist with the basting and roasting, not to protect from the sun. Within 10 years, the bikini had arrived on the scene, allowing women's bodies close to total exposure. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the fashion press promoted the suntan as something to make you look good and feel healthier and younger.
So what is the downside? What is the sun's hidden agenda? Ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun cause sunburn, skin cancer and accelerate skin aging. Sustained ozone depletion and enhanced levels of UV radiation on earth aggravate UV adverse effects on the human skin, eyes and immune system. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, total ozone in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere decreased at a rate of two to four per cent per decade between 1979 and the early 1990s. In the year 2000, the ozone hole over the Antarctic reached 11.4 million square miles, an area more than three times the size of the US.
Due to their dynamic state of growth, children are at especially high risk of suffering damage from exposure to UV radiation. Each episode of sunburn inflicts irreversible cancer-inducing damage to the genes in the skin, which effect will add up to a substantially increased risk of developing deadly melanoma skin cancer mostly in early to middle age adult life. The relentless rise in incidence of melanoma skin cancer in most white populations in recent decades is largely due to a combination of ozone depletion and changing trends in outdoor human behaviour, especially leisure-related. Furthermore, UV rays speed up the skin aging process, resulting in wrinkles, blemishes, broken veins and leathery skin.
In the face of such worrying trends of global proportions and irrevocable scientific evidence, sun-awareness campaigns have gained momentum. Such campaigns are intended to raise public awareness on the dangers of the sun, promote sun protection, and encourage early detection of melanoma skin cancer with a view to improving survival rates. In order to enhance the campaign's effectiveness, much lobbying is needed to target bodies and institutions holding the key to sectors of the population at increased risk, such as schools, sports clubs and employers of outdoor workers. On a positive note, the introduction of the UV index in the local weather forecast some years back was certainly a step in the right direction.
Now that the sun's hidden agenda has been exposed more than ever before, one looks forward to a mature response from a well-informed public, who indeed stands to gain. Who knows? Maybe school sports days and outdoor sporting activities in spring and summer will start being regularly held outside the hours of peak sunshine. Maybe hats and high factor sunscreens will become obligatory for all outdoor workers just like standard safety gear is mandatory for protecting against so many other occupational hazards. Maybe influential trendsetters in the media and glamour world will see the light and stop promoting the suntan as a "must- have" for one to look cool. Maybe the numbers of compulsive sunbathers on our beaches will dwindle. That will be the day!
• Dr Scerri is chairman of the Department of Dermatology & Venereology. He is also a senior lecturer at University.
Why do most children and adults alike look forward to summer? Why do tourists from northern Europe flock in hoards to the sun-drenched Mediterranean shores for their summer holidays? Why does one prefer to wake up to a bright sunny day as opposed to a miserable overcast sky? The answer is obvious. Sunny weather is conductive to enjoyment, outdoor fun and above all, a cheerful mood. The almost magical influence of the sun on human behaviour means that this supreme natural source of light is far from losing its charm.
Long before suntan lotions were invented, in fact before the Industrial Revolution, bronzed bodies belonged to manual labourers. To be brown in those days was a symbol of low social class. Pale, porcelain skin was in vogue, mainly because rich people stayed indoors. But as machines began to appear, the working classes left the fields for factories. As they turned a whiter shade of pale, the rich turned progressively browner. Sporting a tan meant you had money and could afford a leisurely outdoor life. But it was when trend-setter Coco Chanel returned from a Mediterranean holiday with a deep golden tan, that bronzed skin became truly desirable. Before long, skimpy swimwear appeared, with slim shoulder straps, which could be lowered to keep an even tan. And then in the 1940s suntan lotion hit the market. At that time it was designed to assist with the basting and roasting, not to protect from the sun. Within 10 years, the bikini had arrived on the scene, allowing women's bodies close to total exposure. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the fashion press promoted the suntan as something to make you look good and feel healthier and younger.
So what is the downside? What is the sun's hidden agenda? Ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun cause sunburn, skin cancer and accelerate skin aging. Sustained ozone depletion and enhanced levels of UV radiation on earth aggravate UV adverse effects on the human skin, eyes and immune system. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, total ozone in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere decreased at a rate of two to four per cent per decade between 1979 and the early 1990s. In the year 2000, the ozone hole over the Antarctic reached 11.4 million square miles, an area more than three times the size of the US.
Due to their dynamic state of growth, children are at especially high risk of suffering damage from exposure to UV radiation. Each episode of sunburn inflicts irreversible cancer-inducing damage to the genes in the skin, which effect will add up to a substantially increased risk of developing deadly melanoma skin cancer mostly in early to middle age adult life. The relentless rise in incidence of melanoma skin cancer in most white populations in recent decades is largely due to a combination of ozone depletion and changing trends in outdoor human behaviour, especially leisure-related. Furthermore, UV rays speed up the skin aging process, resulting in wrinkles, blemishes, broken veins and leathery skin.
In the face of such worrying trends of global proportions and irrevocable scientific evidence, sun-awareness campaigns have gained momentum. Such campaigns are intended to raise public awareness on the dangers of the sun, promote sun protection, and encourage early detection of melanoma skin cancer with a view to improving survival rates. In order to enhance the campaign's effectiveness, much lobbying is needed to target bodies and institutions holding the key to sectors of the population at increased risk, such as schools, sports clubs and employers of outdoor workers. On a positive note, the introduction of the UV index in the local weather forecast some years back was certainly a step in the right direction.
Now that the sun's hidden agenda has been exposed more than ever before, one looks forward to a mature response from a well-informed public, who indeed stands to gain. Who knows? Maybe school sports days and outdoor sporting activities in spring and summer will start being regularly held outside the hours of peak sunshine. Maybe hats and high factor sunscreens will become obligatory for all outdoor workers just like standard safety gear is mandatory for protecting against so many other occupational hazards. Maybe influential trendsetters in the media and glamour world will see the light and stop promoting the suntan as a "must- have" for one to look cool. Maybe the numbers of compulsive sunbathers on our beaches will dwindle. That will be the day!
• Dr Scerri is chairman of the Department of Dermatology & Venereology. He is also a senior lecturer at University.