INFOGRAPHY – Parents protect their children overall against the dangers of the sun. But they struggle to follow the same advice for them.
Wear a hat, avoid the hottest hours, or put sunscreen every two hours. Some simple recommendations make it possible to protect yourself effectively against the dangers of the sun. Well respected by parents with regard to their children, especially if they are young (under 4 years old), they are often forgotten by older ones.
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"In general, people of phototypes V-VI (Editor's note, the darker skins) have more false beliefs than others."
Cancer Barometer 2015. [19659006] Thus, in the sun, nearly eight parents of children under four in ten systematically put a hat to their young but they are one in ten to cover their head, notes the survey of the Cancer Barometer 2015 , carried out every five years, with 4,000 people and published by the Public Health Agency France in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (INCa). Similarly, exposure between 12pm and 4pm is avoided for three in five children but only one in five adults. Finally, recovering from sunscreen every two hours affects more than one in two children but only 15% of parents.
At the first sun exposure of the year, three-quarters of respondents declare to catch a sunburn. And almost all respondents (86%) think tan on this occasion. "However, tanning, with or without sunburn, attests to excessive exposure to UV and a reaction of the body to protect itself from lesions that have occurred especially at the DNA level," says the report .
Many misconceptions
Most interviewees agree that "the sun causes the skin to age prematurely". But many "misconceptions" still circulate according to the report. Nearly one in two respondents (46%), among those who have never had cancer, think that "if the sunburns of childhood are well cared for, they are inconsequential in adulthood". An badertion however wrong.
A quarter of respondents believe that "doing UV before the holidays can prepare your skin to protect yourself from sunburn" while "artificial UV, also carcinogenic, only add to the UV of the sun and strengthen the carcinogenic effect, "explain the authors of the Barometer. And one in five even thinks that "sunburns prepare the skin by making it less vulnerable to the sun" (which is false).
"In a context of global warming, skin cancer and other pathologies induced by the UV can only continue to progress in the years to come "
Cancer Barometer 2015.
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"In general, people of phototype V-VI ( NDLR the darkest skins) have more false beliefs," notes the document. On the other hand, "the people with the lightest skins I-II ( NDLR ) [sont] the most respectful of preventive measures."
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INCa estimates that 80,000 skin cancers per year, including 14,000 melanomas – the most serious – for the year 2015. That same year, these cancers, of which two-thirds are "related to Excessive exposure to the sun ", have caused nearly 1800 deaths.
" In a context of global warming which foresees an increase of the sunshine in the more or less long term, the cutaneous cancers and the other pathologies induced by the UV do not can only continue to progress in the years to come, "warns the Barometer. The health authorities recall the preventive actions on the site www.prevention-soleil.fr.
