Base tans don’t offer any more protection from sunburns than a white t-shirt . Photo: GQ
Sorry, but your love for the sun isn’t mutual. It’s a fatal attraction — the orb at the center of our universe wants to kill you, one surf session at a time. Protecting yourself from its cancer-causing rays may seem pretty simple (always wear good sunblock…or become an indoor kid). But the sun works in mysterious ways. These facts are testament to that, and knowing them may help you prolong your one-way love affair.
1. Burns to the trunk are very dangerous.
Listen up, bareback and bare-chested waterpeople. According to a new study led by a Harvard University researcher, sunburns to the back and chest are more closely associated with melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — than burns to other parts of the body. It’s a tragic irony of having lats and pecs so gorgeously ripped that they beg to be seen. But exposing them probably isn’t worth the cancer risk, so throw on a rashguard (which will provide sun protection) or be sure to lather up your trunk early and often.
2. Base tans do jack sh*t to protect you.
Understand this: Sun exposure causes your body to produce melanin to protect deeper layers of skin, meaning that a tan itself is evidence of sun damage to upper skin layers. Unfortunately, the melanin isn’t terribly effective. Base tans offer no more sun protection than a white t-shirt, an SPF of about 7 (less than a quarter of the protection offered by SPF 30 sunblock).
3. Yes, dark-skin suffers burns and cancer, sometimes worse than light skin.
Dark skin is dark because it contains a lot of melanin. That pigment does not prevent sunburn or skin cancer. However, it does buy some time in terms of how long you can roast on the beach before getting burned. That blessing comes with a dark side, though: Skin cancer is harder to detect in dark skin and is therefore often diagnosed too late, when cancer has progressed or grown aggressive. So, no matter how dark your skin, wear sunblock dammit!
4. Your left side is getting burned when you drive.
Car windshields and sunroofs have built-in UV protection, giving the effect of wearing 30 SPF sunblock on your face and chest. But side windows offer far less protection, equal to a very weak sunblock, or none at all if they’re rolled down on the way to your local break. A frighteningly huge amount of skin cancer occurs on Americans’ left sides because of this, a phenomenon dermatologists call left-side skin cancer. There’s a name for it. That should freak you out.
