Daily London
Almost a quarter of Aussie kids falsely believe having a suntan will protect them from long-term damage and skin cancer, new research claims.
Social media trends promoting tanning could be contributing to attitudes, with 49 per cent of young Aussies saying they prefer to be tanned, the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne’s Child Health Poll said.
The study, taking in responses from 1400 parents as well as one of their children aged between 12 and 17 years old, also found many teens lacked education or awareness of how to properly protect themselves from the sun or from the negative impacts of sunburn.
“We know there’s a lot of trends on social media that highlight tan lines and even promote sunburn, and teenagers might not fully understand the risk tanning or sun exposure can pose,” Dr Anthea Rhodes said.
“There’s nothing healthy about a suntan, it’s your skin’s response to harm from the sun.”
Around 44 per cent of teenagers surveyed admitted to being sunburnt multiple times in the last six months, with 60 per cent saying they knew they didn’t use adequate protection from the sun when out in peak UV times.
Dermatologist Dr Susan Robertson said the idea that children cannot get skin cancer is a myth.
“Teens may think skin damage isn’t something that will affect them until later in life, but we know that’s not true,” she said.
“While it’s not common to see young children with skin cancer, it sadly does happen in children as young as ten.”
Experts tell parents to ensure their child wears enough sunscreen when going outside, even on a cloudy day, and to ensure they wear a hat, sunglasses and proper clothing to protect themselves from the threat of sunburn and long-lasting damage to their skin.
