Sunburn

[LaNae]

Worried about sunburn. We had like a couple of days of nice weather here in the UK and my scalp burnt. It's hardly visible but feels itchy and sore. So frustrated that I get burnt so easily and you guessed it... am terrified of skin cancer.

Whenever I ask anyone about it, my doctor or my friends, they say I will be fine as I have hardly ever gone abroad and have never tried to tan or anything... they say most people who get skin cancer have either emigrated somewhere like Australia and baked themselves or have tried to tan all their life.

But then I read about skin cancer on the net and it says scary things like 'you are high risk if you are pale' 'just one sunburn increases your risk of skin cancer dramatically' 'sunburn equals damaged skin and damged DNA' etc.

I do check my skin a lot and will notice if anything changes (I hope) but I am terrified anyway, plus it scares me if I develop something on my scalp as it's really hard to see. As a girl with long hair checking my scalp is nigh on impossible even with mirrors, combs, wet hair as the websites suggest... I simply can't do it. And I can't ask someone to do it for me, they will think I am completely paranoid.

What I am asking is... what is the real deal on skin cancer? Is it something I should only be this worried about if I had really baked myself? Or is it such a big risk that I should be worrying over simply being a pale girl who can't help getting a little bit burnt in the Northern European summers? I do wear SPF 30 and cover up but I always get caught out somewhere. So nervous. Thank you

[Onwards & Upwards]

Hey

I got really badly burnt two summers ago, nearly the whole of the front of my body, was in agony for days!

Felt like such a fool afterwards, I got a bit worried about it but it's the only time I've done it and won't do it again, so I'm pretty cool with it. Plus I made a point of eating loadsa fruit and veg after for the goodness to counteract any free radicals! (Made me feel better in my head, anyway!) Plus I used Shea butter from the Body Shop, cause that's meant to do the same sort of thing.

I don't think you should be worried about your scalp feeling sore, just be aware of it in future, maybe wear a hat cos you can't put suncreen on your scalp.

The sun isn't all bad, it's the main way that we process vitamin D. It's ok to go out in the sun but def avoid burning. Plus think of all the people who have got burnt in their lives, there must be so many!