The Sun is not your friend
May is Melanoma Awareness Month. This is a story of two pictures.
These photos were taken in February 2015 in Los Angeles. In the photo on the left, I look pale, tired, and unhealthy. The photo on the right is two days later. I had just spent a couple of hours in the sun. I'm a little sunburned but not too bad. I look much more alert and healthier. And if you believe that, you'd be wrong.
The healthier look is the one without the sun. Now if you're thinking if I was tanned instead of burned, it would be better, then you'd be wrong again. Even if you get tan, you're changing your molecular makeup and it puts you one step closer to getting skin cancer. Your best bet is stay out of the sun and if that's not possible, protect yourself from sun damage.
Here's how you do that: Wear Sunscreen Try to keep out of the sun in peak hours Wear a hat and sunglasses Keep out of tanning beds
Remember the Saturday Night Live skit where a deeply tanned Billy Crystal said "It's better to look good than to feel good"?
He was wrong. In too many sad cases, dead wrong.
For more about Melanoma, check out my friend Donna's blog "Your Tan May Be Killing You". She's missed by so many all the time but especially during Melanoma Awareness Month.
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