FIRENZE (ITALPRESS) – Solar protection is often a holiday habit. A study of 1,288 families published on Dermatologic Reports shows that during normal outdoor activities in the city the majority does not adopt photoprotection measures, while attention increases especially in the period spent at the sea. The paradox is evident: it is protected for two weeks of holiday, but for the other fifty weeks of the year it is often exposed to UV rays without adequate precautions. According to promoters, this behavior is also linked to a communicative factor: for years many prevention campaigns have represented photoprotection almost exclusively in sea and beach contexts (families on the sand, children playing, people swimming). The idea, often implied, that protection serves “especially at the sea”, while in everyday life – outdoor work, gardening, sports, recreational activities – the skin remains exposed without the protection being perceived as necessary. o study was promoted by the Foundation for Research on Cancer “Attilia Pofferi” (Pistoia) and the Umbra No al Melanoma Association (Perugia), and involved families with children aged 8-10 years in the province of Perugia.
“We protect ourselves on holiday, but then for months we expose ourselves without thinking: in outdoor work, in the garden, while cutting the grass or posing the olive trees, or doing sports like tennis. Prevention must enter into the daily routine, not remain a behavior limited to two weeks at the sea”, says Vincenzo De Giorgi, dermatologist of the Tuscan company center of Florence and president of the Foundation for Research on Cancer “Attilia Pofferi” of Pistoia.
“”The risk is not ‘only on the beach’: it is the cumulative exposure that counts. For this reason, practical and repeated messages are needed: shadow when possible, physical barriers (culpture/inductions) and sunscreen when needed, especially for those who spend time outdoors during the year”, adds Gian Marco Tomassini, of the Association Umbra No to the Melanoma of Perugia.
The research is a descriptive transversal study based on an anonymous questionnaire (17 multiple choice questions) compiled by parents and distributed in primary schools in the province of Perugia (April-May 2019): distributed 2.985 questionnaires, analyzed 1.288.
– photos University of Florence –
(ITALPRESS).
