Remember hearing people say, “Hey make sure you put on sun lotion?” Well they have their reasons, and theyʼre not nagging you, theyʼre actually reducing your chance of getting skin cancer. Like when youʼre out in the beach and you want a tan, your mom is like “Sweet heart put on some sun screen youʼre going to get sun burned”. I know it gets annoying but hey like people say, par­ents know best. Ever heard of skin cancer? Thatʼs what you get when youʼre out in the sun without protection. Summer is right around the corner and Iknow that everyone is dying to go to the beach, and getting a suntan. Through myresearch I encountered a County which has a very high percentage of melanoma. Sur­prisingly the rate is much higher than the state in which it is located. Alamance County located in North Carolina has had a higher percentage then the state itself. From 2000-2004 there has been nearly 300 cases of melanoma in Alamance. This means that 40.8 out of 100,000 people suf­fer from melanoma; comparing it to the states rate which is 23.9 out of 100,000 people. Melanoma is one of the most deadly affects of to much sun exposure. Melanoma is when your body has been ex­posed to too much of the sunʼs ultraviolet light. When this occurs the melanocytes create more melanin (cells that give your skin its color), but because of so much ul­traviolet light the melanin grow abnormallyand they become cancerous. Being ex­posed to the sun isnʼt the only way in which you can develop Melanoma; tanning beds also have caused cases of this type of skin cancer. Melanoma has become one of the 5 topdeadly cancers. Most of these cases in­clude people between the ages of 20and 69 who suffer from this health risk. Many people arenʼt aware of how you can encounter in getting this type of skin cancer. If people do most of them ignore it, but informing your­self you can always see why it is im­portant to protect yourself form the sun. Here are some tips that I collected during my research:

*Limit time in the midday sun.

The sunʼs rays are strongest

between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Seek shade from trees, canopies or umbrellas.

Wear a hat with a wide brim.

Cover up with clothing.

Wear sunglasses that block UV radiation.

Always wear sunscreen be­fore going outdoors. WearSPF 15 or higher and reapplyevery two hours youʼre out­side, or after swimming or ex­ercising.

Avoid tanning with tanning

beds or sunlamps. When your out in the beach have fun, but be careful unless you donʼt care about getting Skin Cancer. Have a great summer!

By Katherine Ortiz