War with the Sun, Vanity Gives Women an Edge

If the battle of the sexes were held under the hot spring and summer sun, women would have the upper hand, according to a skin cancer specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

March 29, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — If the battle of the sexes were held under the hot spring and summer sun, women would have the upper hand, according to a skin cancer specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

It’s partly their own vanity that protects the female gender more than men from the sun’s harmful radiation, says Dr. Conway Huang, a dermatologist at UAB. “Women are aware that sun exposure leads to skin cancer, but they are even more concerned because the sun leads to premature skin aging — they don’t want thick, mottled, leathery-looking skin,” he says.

“Women have a head start over most men in sun protection because modern makeup increasingly contains sunscreen, and women are accustomed to wearing makeup regularly,” says Huang. Even so, despite evidence of an epidemic of skin cancer in the United States, both men and women often ignore warnings about the sun’s danger. He says surveys have shown that people generally know the risk of sun exposure, and know how to reduce that risk — “but those same people do not change their behavior to protect themselves.”

Huang advises four measures for protection:

  • Wear sunscreen — a sun protection factor of 15 is adequate for all but those with compromised immune systems (including people with autoimmune diseases).

  • Try to avoid the sun during its most intense hours of the day, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., especially in the spring and summer, when the rays are at their most direct angle to the earth.

  • Wear protective clothing. “Long pants and long-sleeved shirts can be comfortable and fashionable and certainly are safer. And swap your baseball cap for a hat with a wide brim all the way around to protect the ears and back of the neck.”

  • Don’t forget the kids. “It’s especially critical to protect babies. They don't develop protective pigmentation before six months of age. It's best to keep them totally protected until they’re a year old.”

Huang points out that most sun exposure occurs before the age of 20. America’s love affair with the sun has led to 1.1 million new cases of skin cancer annually — a number equal to all other cancers combined.