Lots of Miss Sunscreen around the eyes and other spots vulnerable to skin cancer: Shots

You may not have thin skin, but your eyelids certainly are. The fragile tissue is the thinnest of the body, less than 1 millimeter thick.

Although thin skin like a pancake is ideal for blinking, it makes the area particularly vulnerable to UV rays from the sun. Five to ten percent of skin cancers occur on the eyelid.

Unfortunately, this same piece of sensitive skin is the area where we are most likely to skimp on sunscreen, according to a study released Wednesday in PLOS One.

After providing 84 participants with a bottle of moisturizer containing SPF and instructions for lathering, the team of British researchers turned their UV cameras on the subjects to see the areas of the face that they lacked. They found that participants were constantly missing eyelids, jumping 20% ​​of the area on average. When they received sunscreen rather than moisturizer, people were missing 14% of the surface.

"People were applying cream [and] to go out in the sun thinking that they were protected, "says Austin McCormick, lead author of the study. Yet, one of the most vulnerable areas has not been protected. "

Dermatologists say that areas prone to cancer are often overlooked. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatologist and researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, explains that he regularly sees patients forget to put sunscreen on the sides of their necks and on the ends of their ears – the spots particularly sensitive to ultraviolet rays to skin leanness.

The lower lip, he said, is also at risk because few people apply sunscreen, but they are inclined to the sun.

"In the office, we see sunburns in these areas and skin cancer later in life in these areas," says Zeichner. "People are becoming lazy – it's not easy to be diligent."

McCormick explains that one of the possible reasons that people have suffered on the eye contour, in particular, is that participants wanted to avoid the burning sensation that can occur when the lotion comes in contact with your eyes.

But years as an eyelid surgeon at Liverpool's Aintree University Hospital have taught McCormick that the consequences of avoiding the area can be just as painful – and much more difficult to eliminate.

"Eyelid cancer is one of the most common conditions I need to work on," says McCormick. He says he noticed that many of the carcinomas he is treating develop in places that are difficult to cover with sunscreen – the skin under the eyelashes and the patch at the inner corner of the eye that connects the upper and lower eyelids, called internal canthus.

This is what initially gave McCormick the idea of ​​his first study on the application of sunscreen in 2017. Using a similar method, the team of researchers found that 3 out of 4 people neglected the medial canthus when asked to apply sunscreen. The latest study revealed a similar percentage missing the area with moisturizer SPF.

Andrea Kossler, director of oculoplastic surgery and orbital oncology at Stanford University, explains that McCormick's findings correspond to what she discovered in her practice: Patients do not know that they should apply sunscreen on their eyelids.

"There is always this" aha moment "where patients realize:" Oh yes, I know I do not put my sunscreen in this place. I did not think I was supposed to do it, "she says.

But she insists that moisturizers with SPF and sunscreens "can and should be placed up to the edge of the eyelid." The Skin Cancer Foundation is in agreement.

While chemical sunscreens that protect the skin by converting UV rays into heat may sting, Kossler says physical sunscreens that block the sun with minerals such as zinc or titanium dioxide will not usually be irritating to people. the eyes.

As the summer approaches, she suggests people double their protection by pairing a physical blocker with sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat.