Skin Cancer Skin Cancer Prevention

Suncare 101

Summary & Participants

When it comes to spending time in the sun, we all know the basics: protect yourself or you're burned. But there's more to sun care than just that.

Medically Reviewed On: May 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

SUSAN CINGARI: Hello, I'm Susan Cingari, and welcome to our webcast from Miami.

When it comes to spending time in the sun, we all know the basics: protect yourself or you're burned. But there's more to sun care than just that. For example, do you know the difference between UVA and UVB rays, or what SPF your sunscreen should really be? And what about the risk of melanoma or skin cancer, which will cause about 7000 deaths this year alone?

Joining me today to discuss these important sun car issues are two dermatologists from the University of Miami: Dr. Mariano Busso, sitting to my right, and Dr. Steven Shapiro, sitting to my left. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

I'd like to start off with our first question, how does sun cause damage to our skin?

MARIANO BUSSO, MD: We have two forms of sunlight, the visible one and the invisible sunlight. The invisible form has the ultraviolet light type A and type B, which are our major concern. What they can produce is suntan, sunburn, skin cancer, premature aging, also eye damage, like cataracts, damage to the immune system, and even allergic reactions.

STEVEN SHAPIRO, MD: I'd like to add something to that. We originally thought that UVB was the one that caused skin cancer, and we always remember B for bad. And later one, we found out that UVA also causes skin cancer, as well. So now that we know that both UVA and UVB cause skin cancer, they're both in tanning salons. And originally they used mostly UVB, they switched to UVA, and now we know that both rays cause skin cancer, and tanning salons contain both rays, so it can potentially cause skin cancer, as well.

SUSAN CINGARI: That brings me to my next question. Dr. Shapiro, what is the difference between UVA and UVB rays, then?

STEVEN SHAPIRO, MD: UVB is a much stronger radiation than UVA, and UVB is more absorbed by the epidermis than the deeper dermis where UVA is absorbed. In terms of your average daylight., around twelve noon is the strongest sun of the day, most of us know that, it's about 90% UVB at twelve noon. Earlier in the day it's more UVA, towards the end of the day it's UVA as well. So UVB is a much stronger radiation, however, UVA can cause skin cancer, as well.

MARIANO BUSSO, MD: Interestingly, they both product skin cancer. UVB is filtered from windows, whereas UVA not as much. And a perfect example of that is most skin cancers… take place on the left side of our body, because when we're driving, we have a lot of sun radiation from UVA rays. And so therefore, in Great Britain, it's on the right side.

SUSAN CINGARI: That's interestingly.

All right, Dr. Busso, how can we protect ourselves from burning, then? What's the best advice you can give us?

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