MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE HEADWEAR INDUSTRY

The media continues to beat the drum about the dangers of the sun. This is good news for the hat industry. Women (and most men) don’t realize that all they have to do is wear a hat to protect them from cancer and wrinkles. I thought I would reproduce this article - that ran in papers across the country last week. It’s about time the hat industry got to these editors with the same fervor as the skin care industry and Botox specialists have.

Sunscreens can offer a false sense of security
Dermatologists say many fail to protect well against cancer
The Associated Press

Think slathering on the highest-number sunscreen at the beach or pool will spare you skin cancer and premature wrinkles? Probably not, if you're in the sun a lot.

That's because you don't need a sunburn to suffer the effects that can cause various types of skin cancer.

Sunscreens generally do a good job filtering out the ultraviolet rays that cause sunburn -- UVB rays. But with sunburn protection, many people get a false sense of security that keeps them under the harsh sun much longer. That adds to the risk of eventual skin cancer, both deadly melanoma and the more common and less-threatening basal and squamous cell cancers.

And most sunscreens don't defend nearly as well against the UVA rays that penetrate deep into the skin and are more likely to cause skin cancer and wrinkles. That's true even for some products labeled "broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection."

Dermatologists say the best protection against UVA is a sunscreen that includes zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or avobenzone. Consumers also should look for those that are water-resistant and have an SPF of 30 or better, indicating strong protection against UVB rays, and apply liberally and often. More important, limit time in the sun, particularly from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and cover up. Wear a hat and sunglasses.

Often, product labels are confusing or bear misleading claims. For example, the SPF, or sun protection factor, refers only to defense against the less harmful UVB rays.

"I don't think people understand they're only getting protection from part of the spectrum," said Dr. Sandra Read, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Dermatology. "You're accumulating this damage and you don't know it." Many sunscreens say little about when to reapply ; doctors say at least every two hours and after swimming or sweating. Nor do they say much about how much to use, roughly two tablespoons for an adult.

"Most people who use an SPF 15 get the protection equivalent to an SPF 5 because they put it on" too thinly, said Dr. Martin A. Weinstock, chairman of the American Cancer Society's skin cancer advisory group and a Brown University professor.

While a higher SPF number means more protection, the difference is small: SPF 15 blocks about 93 percent of UVB rays and SPF 50, often more expensive, blocks about 98 percent.

Most sunscreens work by reacting chemically with the skin, so they don't start absorbing damaging rays right away and must be applied a half-hour before going outside, something many labels fail to note. And claims such as "waterproof" and "sunblock" are unsupported, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which years ago proposed replacing them with the more-accurate terms "water resistant" and "sunscreen." Manufacturers, including Neutrogena Suncare maker Johnson & Johnson and Coppertone maker Schering-Plough Corp., say they haven't complied because the FDA still hasn't imposed those rules -- a delay that's spawned consumer lawsuits and pressure on the FDA from Congress and the American Cancer Society.

Still, doctors say people shouldn't abandon sunscreen: They probably should use more. "Sunscreens do protect against skin cancer," said Dr. Babar Rao, a dermatologist at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. "We definitely still need sunscreen, even on a cloudy day."

MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE HAT INDUSTRY: ARE WE THERE YET?

This ran in the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

Skin cancer deadlier in minorities
By JACOB GOLDSTEIN
jgoldstein@MiamiHerald.com
The deadliest form of skin cancer is far more common among whites than among Hispanics or blacks -- but when it occurs, the disease is more likely to progress undetected in Hispanics and blacks, according to a new analysis of nearly 1,700 cases of melanoma in Miami-Dade County.

The implication: Miami-Dade's Hispanics and blacks are less likely to develop melanoma, but those who do are more likely to die from it, said Dr. Robert Kirsner, a University of Miami dermatologist who was one of the study's authors.

Although the study did not attempt to determine the cause of this disparity, Kirsner noted that blacks and Hispanics have less access to medical care.

And even those who see a doctor regularly may go undiagnosed. Fair skin is a risk factor for melanoma, and doctors and patients may tend to overlook the disease in people with darker complexions.

''Education is needed in patients and physicians alike,'' he said. ``Patients may be coming to [doctors] with some concerns, but because of the patient's ethnic or racial makeup, the doctor may put melanoma lower on the list of potential diagnoses and not evaluate it in the same way.''

The study, published Monday in the journal Archives of Dermatology, analyzed 1,690 melanoma cases in Miami-Dade County between 1997 and 2002 -- all of the cases for which pertinent data was available.

RACIAL BREAKDOWN
Out of those cases, 70 percent were in white non-Hispanics, 29 percent were in Hispanics and 2 percent were in black non-Hispanics. (The county's overall population is 19 percent white non-Hispanic, 60 percent Hispanic and 20 percent black non-Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.)

Among those who developed melanoma, the disease was diagnosed at a late stage -- after spreading far beyond the initial site -- 16 percent of the time in whites, 26 percent of the time in Hispanics and 52 percent of the time in blacks.

As with many cancers, late diagnosis dramatically reduces a patient's chances of survival. When melanoma is detected early, the survival rate is 99 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. With later detection, the survival rate falls to between 15 and 65 percent, depending on how much the disease has spread.

This study looked only at Miami-Dade County, but Kirsner said he is currently analyzing data from Broward and Palm Beach counties as well, along with statewide data.

Cockburn noted that there are biological differences between the types of melanomas likely to develop in people of different ethnicities -- the most common form of melanoma in blacks, for example, shows up on the soles of feet and on palms.