Great 'Cheap Tan' Hunt

Ted_Hutchinson

janaltus wrote:

I am sure you are right and I would love to find an alternative to sunbathing.

Providing you do not go pink or get sunburnt the weight of the latest research evidence shows that far more harm comes to those who have a low Vitamin d status than to those in with the highest status.

Problem is ... I have chronic psoriasis and do nothing but suffer from flaky and cracking skin over my body and face - except when I am sunbathing several hours a day (when I look and feel great).

Carry on sunbathing and stop worrying about the misinformation being pushed by those with a vested interest in diseasemongering. You can however increase your skin's natural protectin to sun by diet
How can my diet help protect me from sunburn?: answer

The truth about food video Tomatoes and Skin Protection Is there is there something we can do all year round to give added protection to our skin from harmful UV rays?

The data support the hypothesis that 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) exerts its photoprotective effects via the rapid pathway and raise the possibility that other D compounds produced in skin may contribute to the photoprotective effects. shows that actually getting a sufficient sun on the skin to generate Vit d actually improves the photoprotection of you skin, so by having sun little and often you gradually build up your skins natural photoprotection. I found taking Vit d during the Winter enabled me to tan very quickly when I started sunbathing last year.

This shows Omega 3 EPA helps protect from sunburn

and Green tea does the same

lucylamb_2

fake tans are the way foreward!!

SallyD

COTY SUNSHIMMER £3.99 - £4.99 depends where you buy it. They do a light or dark matt, or shimmer. The best thing about this is that it washes off.

I have used it on my face and legs for years. I have very pale skin and find the "light matt" mixed with a little moisturizer goes on a dream, it does not stain clothes either. No streaking and only takes a minute or so to apply each day and it does not rub off.

Ted_Hutchinson

lucylamb wrote:

fake tans are the way foreward!!

To an early grave see.
The Truth about Skin Cancer You need the Sun for Vitamin D
Risk factors for cutaneous melanoma
The most important melanoma risk factors (in decreasing order of importance) for a given individual are as follows: a persistently changed or changing mole, adulthood, irregular varieties of pigmented lesions (including dysplastic moles and lentigo maligna), a congenital mole, Caucasian race, a previous cutaneous melanoma, a family history of cutaneous melanoma, immunosuppression, sun sensitivity, and excessive sun exposure.

So you should be able to see that immunosuppression is more likely to cause melanoma that excessive sun exposure. Those who are aware of the role of vitamin d for immune function will be aware it is MOST important to improve your immune system.
In other threads I have shown how easy it is to improve your skin's sensitivity to sunshine and I have repeatedly warned against excessive sun exposure.

Considering the potential benefits as well as adverse effects of sun exposure: can all the potential benefits be provided by oral vitamin D supplementation?It is important to recognize that all of the beneficial effects of UVR exposure may not occur only through UVR-induced vitamin D synthesis. Thus maintaining current sun avoidance policies while supplementing food with vitamin D may not be sufficient to avoid the risks of insufficient exposure to UVR.

lucylamb_2

Teddy>>> whats that in layman's terms ????

Ted_Hutchinson

lucylamb wrote:

Teddy>>> whats that in layman's terms ????

Well the first blue link is fairly straightforward and as it summarises everything I think about Vitamin d I do hope you will try reading it through again.

Risk factors for cutaneous melanoma
The most important melanoma risk factors (in decreasing order of importance) for a given individual are as follows: a persistently changed or changing mole, adulthood, irregular varieties of pigmented lesions (including dysplastic moles and lentigo maligna), a congenital mole, Caucasian race, a previous cutaneous melanoma, a family history of cutaneous melanoma, immunosuppression, sun sensitivity, and excessive sun exposure.

this bit is somewhat dated now but it shows that even in 1997 they knew that excessive sun exposure was least of the risk factors. Since then it's been kicked even further down the list. shows benzene and benzene-containing solvents are probably as dangerous and explain many melanomas occurring in places the sun never shines on.

The point is that there is good and bad in everything. With sun exposure the new knowledge of vitamin d's role in the immune system means it is MORE important to boost the immune system than to avoid all sunshine. Avoiding sunshine creates a lower status immune system which itself causes a higher vulnerability to numerous illnesses including a higher risk of melanoma. Focusing only on the actual damage to the skin that excessive sun exposure inevitably causes is counterproductive as it is leading to far more illness than it is preventing.

Research such as this shows the antiproliferative effect of sunshine is probably more important than the pro-differentiative effects. It's been known for some time that those people who have had one melanoma are more likely to get another. But those who stay out of the sun actually have a worse prognosis than those who continue to get regular modest non-burning sun exposure, so if in those most vulnerable people, the prognosis is better for continued regular modest sun exposure, it follows it's also likely to be the case for less vulnerable people.

Because we know there is SOME risk in getting sun exposure some people think that we should all just use supplements but Vitamin D3 provides skin with protection from harmful microbes shows you really need the natural antibiotic properties of Vitamin d right on your skin, as this is your body's first defence mechanism.

The last link is pointing out that although we know that for every one person who dies from skin cancer many more (well over 30 times that number) will die from other cancers that progress more aggressively in Vitamin d low status bodies, we do not know all the ways this is happening and it may be that there are other benefits from direct exposure to sunlight and UVB rays that we just aren't aware of yet, so these alternative pathways, whereby UVR could alter the risk of development of some cancers and autoimmune disorders, independent of effects on vitamin D synthesis, need to be investigated before we tell people to avoid the sun at all costs and rely soley on supplements.

So the most recent research is supporting regular non burning direct exposure to sunshine as being the safest option. We've been hammering home the sunsmart message for so many years and STILL the melanoma rates rise year on year.

We've got to get off this obsession with the dangers of sunshine and realise there are other causes of melanomas that we are ignoring such as benzene and solvents.

We've got to realise that the immune enhancing properties of Vitamin d, particularly on the skin, are MORE important than the dangers that arise from burning. (that is not to say it isn't downright stupid to ever get sunburnt, but you must allow the sun to get directly on your skin sometime during the day between April and end September)

You don't have to burn to get sufficient sun to make Vitamin d3 this happens in a quarter of the time it takes to burn, so if your skin even starts to go pink you've been out for far longer than was healthy.

But if your skin in hypersensitive then that is sign you need to address not only your Vitamin d3 status(vit D is part of the skins natural protection from UV rays), but also your omega 3 EPA status (fish 3 times are week? Ground flax seed?) and increase your intake of tomato puree and possibly try changing to drinking GREEN tea (you can get used to it, I prefer it now esp with a slice of lemon/ginger, drink it black made with water slightly off the boil)

Dijor

So, are you saying that even for someone like myself, who has had a Malignant Melanoma, it is still better to to go out and sunbathe than to cover myself in sunblock as I do as soon as summer comes?

Living in Cornwall and spending most of the time on the beach at weekends, it takes me a good half an hour before I even leave the house with the kids covering ourselves in sunblock.

I've been reading this thread with interest.

Ted_Hutchinson

Dijor wrote:

So, are you saying that even for someone like myself, who has had a Malignant Melanoma, it is still better to to go out and sunbathe than to cover myself in sunblock as I do as soon as summer comes?

Living in Cornwall and spending most of the time on the beach at weekends, it takes me a good half an hour before I even leave the house with the kids covering ourselves in sunblock.

It isn't what I am saying that matters. It is the conclusions in research such as this Sun exposure is associated with increased survival from melanoma.
It is MORE important to have a high vitamin d status as high immune status will reduce the antiproliferative activity of many more cancers that occur more frequently. (apart from the beneficial effects on other conditions)
This is not permission to get sun BURNT nor even to go the slightest bit pink that is EXCESSIVE sun exposure, regular limited direct exposure to sunshine is the only safe way to get sufficient antibiotic Vitamin d to form on the skin where it is needed to fight infections and promote healing.

lucylamb_2

How Tanning Happens:
The sun's rays contain two types of ultraviolet radiation that reach your skin: UVA and UVB. UVB radiation burns the upper layers of skin (the epidermis), causing sunburns.

UVA radiation is what makes people tan. UVA rays penetrate to the lower layers of the epidermis, where they trigger cells called melanocytes (pronounced: mel-an-oh-sites) to produce melanin. Melanin is the brown pigment that causes tanning.

Melanin is the body's way of protecting skin from burning. Darker-skinned people tan more deeply than lighter-skinned people because their melanocytes produce more melanin. But just because a person doesn't burn does not mean that he or she is also protected against skin cancer and other problems.


Tanning Downsides

UVA rays may make you tan, but they can also cause serious damage. That's because UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin than UVB rays. UVA rays can go all the way through the skin's protective epidermis to the dermis, where blood vessels and nerves are found. Because of this, UVA rays may damage a person's immune system, making it harder to fight off diseases and leading to illnesses like melanoma, the most serious (and deadly) type of skin cancer.

Melanoma can kill. If it's not found and treated, it can quickly spread from the skin to the body's other organs.

Skin cancer is epidemic in the United States, with more than 1 million new cases diagnosed annually. Although the numbers of new cases of many other types of cancer are falling or leveling off, the number of new cases of melanoma is growing. In the past, melanoma mostly affected people in their fifties or older, but today dermatologists see patients in their twenties and even late teens with this type of cancer. Experts believe this is partly due to an increase in the use of tanning beds and sun lamps, which have high levels of UVA rays.

Doctors also think that UVB rays play a role in the development of melanoma. That's because a sunburn or intense sun exposure may increase a person's chances of developing this deadly cancer.

Exposure to UVB rays also increases your risk of getting two other types of skin cancer: basal and squamous cell carcinoma.

The main treatment for skin cancers is excision — cutting the tumors out. Since many basal or squamous cell carcinomas are on the face and neck, surgery to remove them can leave people with facial scars. The scars from surgery to remove melanomas can be anywhere on the body, and they're often large.

Cancer isn't the only problem associated with UV exposure. UVA damage to the dermis is the main factor in premature skin aging. To get a good idea of how sunlight affects the skin, look at your parents' skin and see how different it is from yours. Much of that is due to sun exposure, not the age difference! UV rays can also lead to another problem we associate with old people: the eye problem cataracts.

Sun Smarts
Staying out of the sun altogether may see to be the only logical answer. But who wants to live like a hermit? The key is to enjoy the sun sensibly, finding a balance between sun protection and those great summer activities like beach volleyball and swimming.

Sunscreens or sunblocks, which block the sun's harmful rays, are one of your best defenses against sun damage because they protect you without interfering with your comfort and activity levels.

The SPF number on a sunscreen shows the level of protection it gives. Sunscreens with a higher SPF number provide more defense against the sun's damaging UV rays.

Here are some tips to enjoy the great outdoors while protecting your skin and eyes from sun damage.

Wear sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 every day, even on cloudy days and when you don't plan on spending much time outdoors. Wearing sunscreen every day is essential because as much as 80% of sun exposure is incidental — the type you get from walking your dog or eating lunch outside. If you don't want to wear a pure sunscreen, try a moisturizer with sunscreen in it, but make sure you put on enough.
Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Ideally, it should also be hypoallergenic and noncomedogenic so it doesn't cause a rash or clog your pores and give you acne.
Apply sunscreen thickly and frequently. If you're not sure you're putting on enough, switch to one with a higher SPF. Regardless of the SPF, always reapply sunscreen after a couple of hours. Most broad-spectrum sunscreens are more effective at blocking UVB rays than UVA rays. So even if you don't get a sunburn, UVA rays could still be doing unseen damage to your skin.
Reapply sunscreen every 2 to 3 hours and after swimming or sweating. In the direct sun, wear a sunscreen with a higher SPF, like SPF 30. While playing sports, use sunscreen that's waterproof and sweatproof.
Take frequent breaks. The sun's rays are strongest between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. During those hours, take breaks to cool off indoors or in the shade for a while before heading out again.
Wear a hat with a brim and sunglasses that provide almost 100% protection against ultraviolet radiation.
You probably know that water is a major reflector of UV radiation — but so is snow. Snow skiing and other winter activities carry significant risk of sunburn, so always apply sunblock before hitting the slopes.
Certain medications, such as antibiotics used to treat acne and birth control pills, can increase your sun sensitivity. Ask your doctor whether your medications might have this effect and what you should do.
Avoid tanning "accelerators" or tanning pills that claim to speed up the body's production of melanin or darken the skin. There's no proof that they work and they aren't approved by government agencies for tanning purposes.

:T :T :rotfl:

lucylamb_2

Trauma-free Tans
Even when you're serious about protecting your skin, you may sometimes want the glow of a tan. Luckily, many products on the market — but not sun lamps or tanning beds — will let you tan safely and sun-free.

One safe way to go bronze is with sunless self-tanners. These "tans in a bottle" contain dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which gradually stains the dead cells in your skin’s outer layer. The "tan" lasts until these skin cells slough off, so exfoliating or vigorously washing will make the color fade faster. Typically, these "fake bakes" last from several days to a week.