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One summer day deep in the 1980s, as I arranged my 15-year-old self on Muizenberg beach to fry in the sun like a strip of uncooked bacon, a teenage boy, himself immaculately tanned, strolled past and pronounced: “White. Anglo-saxon WHITE.”
It was not intended as a compliment.
Like many kids in the 80s, I scorned sun cream and uncool floppy hats. Every Monday at my (all-white) school, we’d appraise the depth of each other’s tans, conscientiously worked at over the weekend. Using baby oil and tin foil to accelerate the process was common, if not always admitted to.
What were we thinking?
Well, apart from being 15 and not quite believing we were ever going to have to face wrinkles or death, somehow in the 80s the message about sunshine’s dark side just hadn’t had enough time to sink in yet.
Medical research had warned even before then that too much sun increased the risk of premature aging and skin cancer, but, like all unwelcome advice from science (look at smoking, global warming, eating your vegetables, etc.), there’s a lag period before it permeates the public’s consciousness.
The myth of the “healthy tan” is proving particularly difficult to erase from the lay person’s mind, especially the South African mind: we consider the carefree outdoor summer lifestyle our birthright.
Also, in the mid-80s when the Antarctic ozone “hole” was discovered – the most sobering evidence that the earth was losing its natural UV-protection – the stats weren’t nearly as worrisome as they are now:
- Skin cancer is South Africa's most common cancer, with about 20 000 new cases and 700 deaths annually.
- Risk increases the lighter your skin tone, but anyone can get skin cancer. Rates among black South Africans are rising, and it often goes undetected for longer on darker skins. Melanoma, the most deadly kind of skin cancer, is more likely in blacks where the skin is lighter - such as on the soles of the feet, the palms of hands and the fingernail beds.
- Your skin is most vulnerable to damage before age 18: two blistering burns as a child or teenager dramatically increases your risk of getting skin cancer later in life.
Not too late for positive action
There are very few paler-skinned South Africans now at the “later-in-life” stage who can remember how many blistering burns they had – not because it's a long time since they were 18, but because they had countless blistering burns as kids. I recall how, nearly every Monday morning in summer, I used to sit in first period and idly pick at the sunburn blisters on the tops of my ears.
So the stats aren’t great, particularly for people like myself – pale skinned, pale-eyed and with memories of many red, blistered summers. But does this mean our gooses are cooked, so to speak?
Not necessarily, says the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), as long as we get seriously proactive.
Even if you had a lot of sun damage in your youth, it does still make a difference to your risk profile to follow all the basic sun-sensible rules.
But that’s not enough: you need to be intimately acquainted with your skin’s blemishes; preferably, you need a partner or friend who is too. And, especially if you’re at high risk, you need to get your skin checked regularly by a professional.
Spot that Spot
As part of its annual SunSmart campaign, CANSA runs “Spot the Spot” beach “clinics” at many of the country’s most popular beaches, where a dermatologist will check your skin and advise you on whether you need to have any worrying spots examined further.
This is quick, free and painless, and done in a friendly, unclinical atmosphere in a tent: you simply pitch up in your skimpy beach attire and present yourself for inspection.
I’ll be taking my pale and interesting self and all its dodgy spots down to the next beach clinic at Camps Bay, Cape Town, this weekend, and will report back here how it goes. Join me or check in at one of the other clinics (most are held 11:00-14:00) over the summer:
Tues 16 December: Fishhoek
Sat 20 December: Strand
Sun 21December: Clifton
Sat 3 January: Blouberg
Sun 4 January: Camps Bay
Sat 10 January: Houtbay
Sun 11January: Strandfontein
Sat 17 January: Seapoint Swimming Pool
Sun 18 January: Seapoint Swimming Pool
There’s a Spot-the-Spot clinic at CANSA’s Durban office, 619 Umbilo Road, on 17 Dec. Contact 031 205 9525.
For more info on clinics and SunSmart in your area, contact CANSA toll free on 0800 22 66 22 during office hours.
- Olivia Rose-Innes, Health24, December 2008
Sources:
Whatever skin you're in, cover up. Health-e news service, 2007
SunSmart Press release, CANSA, 2008.
