One of the most damaging things you can voluntarily do to your skin is to expose it to the bright rays of the sun. What is widely known now is the tremendous likelyhood of skin cancer you could get just spending a short amount of hours over time in the bright sunlight. Tanning used to be the thing to make one look vibrant and full of youth. As a matter of fact, people used to “worship” the sun by laying on a blanket at the beach or the back yard just to tan as dark as possible. It wasn’t until the 1990’s that doctors reports were becoming more prevalent in the media about taking more drastic measures to protect your skin and prevent skin cancer.

Sun-exposed skin may cause damage to the skin and can cause brown colored ‘age-spots’. Prolonged and over exposure of certain parts of body like hands and face puts them at maximum risk. Earlier there used to be no other beneficial and effective remedies for treating with such problems. Cosmetics were the only option available.

Certain specific therapies are now available to facilitate with the help in reversing the signs of ‘photo-aging’ at the physiological levels only. Some of the common therapies include physical removal by surgery, microdermabrasion, and chemical peeling. Unfortunately, none of these therapies are gentle and comfortable in application.

A good sun screen cream with at least 15 SPF rating will make a great first barrier to prevent or reduce the likelyhood of skin cancer. Try to get to shade for the most part when outside. For those of you who have pale skin and freckles, this will be more important to you. Get regular checkups on your skin and take notice of any dark patch of skin that turns even darker….see a doctor right away. Depending on the seriousness of that dark skin patch, it may have to be surgically removed by the doctor to prevent spread of cancer, even if it is benign.

Overall, be aware of any spots or patches on your skin and you will be ahead of cancer prevention to your own body, after all, we only have one body!