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Skin cancer

No need to live in a cave: sun protection tips, from head to toe

Kim Painter
Special to USA TODAY

Want to see the most flawless skin on your body? Dermatologists suggest you get a mirror, drop trou and take a look at your booty. Here, where the sun literally does not shine, you will find a dermal landscape free of wrinkles and age spots – and quite unlikely to develop skin cancer.

If you lived in a cave, your face might look nearly as flawless.

Nobody wants you to live in cave.

But there are ways to minimize the damage that occurs every time you expose yourself to the ultraviolet rays of the sun

Here's how – and why – to protect your most danger-prone areas, from head to toe:

Heads, with and without hair, can get sunburned. Protect them with hats and sunscreen, doctors say.

SCALP

The danger: Our noggins are prone to sunburn, and hair does not offer as much protection as you might think – especially as we age and it thins or disappears. On the flip side, hair can be a hiding spot for skin cancers. The most dangerous skin cancer, melanoma, can be particularly deadly when found on the scalp – perhaps because the lesions are found late, says Deborah Sarnoff, senior vice president of the non-profit Skin Cancer Foundation and a clinical professor of dermatology at New York University.

The defense: Seek the shade or wear a broad-brimmed hat made of tightly woven material. You also can put sunscreen on your head – though that's perhaps most practical for the bald.

FACE

The danger: Consider the wrinkles and dark spots on your face as a lifetime sun damage progress report. You may have forgotten all those tans you got as a teen, but your face remembers and tells all. And it's tallying up any new sun damage you get today. Faces also are prime real estate for non-melanoma skin cancers, with noses, the tops of ears and lips especially vulnerable, says Mark Lebwohl, president of the American Academy of Dermatology and chairman of the department of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

The defense: Use a daily sunscreen with "broad-spectrum" protection again ultraviolet A (UVA) and and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays and a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30. Don't forget to put some on your ears and to use a lip balm with sunscreen. And keep wearing that hat.

EYES

The danger: Eyes get sunburned too, especially when sun reflects off water or snow. Eyes also accumulate long-term sun damage. That damage raises the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration, major causes of vision loss in older adults, says Christopher Quinn, an optometrist in Iselin, N.J.

The defense: Carefully-chosen sunglasses. They should block 99% to 100% of UVA and UVB rays and 75% to 90% of visible light, says the American Optometric Association. Large frames that contour to your face offer the best protection, not just for your eyes but for the delicate skin around them, Quinn says. And don't forget sunglasses for the kids. "We tend to lather kids up with sunscreen and then send them out with no protection for their eyes," Quinn says.

BACK:

The danger: The back is among the most common locations for melanoma, especially among men. Blame shirtless days on the beach and in the backyard.

The defense: Less shirtlessness and more sunscreen -- applied with the help of a friend or family member, if need be. That friend (and, from time to time, a doctor) should also watch your back for signs of melanoma (such as a mole or other skin lesion that is changing, has ragged edges or varying colors and might be bigger than a pencil eraser).

HANDS

The danger: The backs of your hands, like your face, get sun exposure every day. Even the light through a car window can add to the accumulating damage. The result: thinning, crinkled skin and dark spots. Skin cancers are common here too.

The defense: Unless you want to wear gloves year round, use sunscreen on your hands every day.

LEGS

The danger: Legs are a common melanoma spot for women – thanks, perhaps, to a love of leg-baring fashion and the idea that tan legs are prettier legs.

The defense: Resist the urge to tan (indoors or out). In a perfect world, pale people would just go with their "own glow," Sarnoff says. But if you must have tan legs, she suggests using a self-tanning product.

FEET

The danger: Sunburned foot tops and sandal-strap tan lines – neither very pretty.

The defense: Sunscreen again. If you get your feet wet in a pool, ocean or lake, don't forget to reapply it. There's no such thing as waterproof sunscreen. And watch your feet, like every other part of your body, for suspicious growths. Though it's not common, you can get skin cancers on the soles of feet and other body parts rarely or never exposed to the sun.

Don't forget to sunsceen your feet -- and to reapply after swimming.
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