Despite a prevalent risk of skin cancer amongst fair-skinned populations, sun protection adherence often remains sub-optimal. A dermatology group in the US have recently investigated the sunscreen application behavior of those who have previously experienced cancer.
The authors’ results suggest both men and women with a history of cancer are more likely to take the time to apply the recommended amount of sunscreen, compared to the general population. However, application could still be optimised to lower the risk of cancer reoccurrence. Since the investigation was carried out in a controlled environment and only tested sunscreen application to the head, results may not represent real-life behaviors which was a major challenge for the research team.
For further reading on the importance of adequate application of sunscreen, view Bauer et al’s article.