Cooler temperatures are coming, but your skin can still be damaged by the sun.
The Skin Cancer Foundation is reminding everyone to continue using protection from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.
"It's not just the sunburns that usually occur during the summer or on vacation that are associated with skin cancer," said Dr. Perry Robins, president of the foundation, in a statement. "All of your lifetime sun exposure adds to your risk of skin cancer."
There are different types of skin cancer, caused by different kinds of exposure:
Intense, intermittent sun exposure is the kind you get from laying out on the beach and getting burned, or even raking leaves in October.
The damage can lead to melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, the foundation says. Almost 69,000 melanomas are diagnosed a year, and about 8,650 people die. It can also lead to basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancers with more than 2 million Americans affected a year.
The incidental sun exposure that accumulates over time while you're out walking the dog or to your car can lead to squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common type of skin cancer. There are an estimated 700,000 cases annually in the United States, leading to some 2,500 deaths. You can also get basal cell carcinomas this way.
The foundation wants everyone to have a year-round sun protection regimen. The group recommends: wearing densely woven and bright- or dark- colored clothes that cover as much skin as possible, wearing broad-brimmed hats and sunglasses that block ultraviolet radiation, seeking shade outside and wearing sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or more.
Doing a self exam every month and getting a dermatologist to do an annual exam is also recommended because most skin cancers are curable when caught early.
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