Sun Safety on Memorial Day!
Memorial Weekend is finally upon us!
From all of us here at Harken Derm, we wish you a wonderful holiday weekend! As the country continues to open up this weekend, we are all looking forward to spending more time outdoors. We are hoping you are staying safe and following the expert guidelines in the area where you live regarding COVID-19. Dermatologists like to use the term "SUN SMART BEHAVIOR" to describe appropriate sun-protective measures and now, hope you don't mind, we took the liberty to coin the term "COVID-19 SMART BEHAVIOR". We see some parallels. Young people are especially vulnerable because they don't perceive the risk for the negative consequences of their actions if those are far in the future as in the case of extensive sun exposure or sunburns at a young age that causes premature skin aging and skin cancer much later. Or, unfortunately, if their behavior causes disproportionately more harm to an entirely other generation than their own as in the case of COVID-19.
On average, a person’s risk for melanoma doubles if they have had more than five sunburns, but just one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life.
Lets leave burning for our toast and not on our skin!
Let's get our kids and our families in the habit of that catchy Australian jingle brought to us by Sid the seagull... Slip, Slap Slop!
Slip on a shirt!
Slap on a hat!
Slop on some sunscreen!
The earlier kids learn these important measures for sun safety, the more likely they are to implement them and adhere to them.
Trust us, they will thank you later!
We want to give a special thank you to all of those who have, and are currently serving our country. Whether on the front lines overseas or here in our hospitals.
Thank You!