TRICARE Safety Series: Be Safe in the Sun

6/17/2015

Spring is here and temperatures are rising. As you and your loved ones spend more time in the sun, be sure you practice sun safety and protect yourself from harmful ultraviolet (UV) protection.

UV rays are an invisible form of radiation that can pass through your skin and damage your skin cells. Although they can cause skin damage during any season or at any temperature, you are at higher risk in the summer when temperatures are warmer and you show more skin. Suntans and sunburns are both signs of skin damage. They appear after the sun has already killed some skin cells and damaged others.

The National Institutes of Health reports that long term skin damage can cause eye problems, wrinkles, skin spots and skin cancer. You can protect yourself from sun damage by:

• avoiding the sun when it’s strongest (between 10am – 2pm)
• using sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher
• wearing protective clothing
• avoiding sunlamps and tanning beds
• wearing wraparound sunglasses that provide 100 percent UV ray protection

If you’ve been in the sun, be sure to check your skin for changes in the size, shape, color or feel of birthmarks, moles and spots. Be sure to discuss your concerns with your health care provider. TRICARE covers skin cancer exams for individuals with a family history of skin cancer; with an increased exposure to sunlight or clinical evidence of precursor lesions, the red, scaly areas on skin as a result of sun damage.

For more information, read Sun and Skin: The Dark Side of Sun Exposure or visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s web page on sun exposure.