Remember to put sunscreen on these commonly missed spots:

by Liz Bonis, WKRCTuesday, July 16th 2019

https://local12.com/health/medical-edge-reports/remember-to-put-sunscreen-on-these-commonly-missed-spots

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – As we head into these really hot days, there’s a warning about sun protection.

We all know that you need to slather the sunscreen on your arms, legs and other areas that are often exposed to the sun, but a new warning is out about a few of the other places you don’t realize can actually get sunburned, including your eyes.

Eye specialists say our skin and our eyes are organs. That means if you don’t cover your eyes, for example, with sunglasses, you can have a burn to the

 

surface layer with prolonged sun exposure. This raises the risk of damage to the cornea, which is also called photokeratitis.

In addition to that, you also should focus on areas we know show aging easily, such as your neck. While treatments like microneedling and radiofrequency can help reduce some of the after-effects, Dr. Jon Mendelsohn says you are better off preventing the problem by covering up everything from your neck to the top of your head, to even your toes and the bottom of your feet.

“Prevention with sunscreen is the number one thing, of course. And there are a lot of different types of sunscreens. We’re looking at UVA rays and UVB rays. The A, think of them as aging, and the B are burning, or sun damage, skin cancer. So, prevention with sunscreen, you need to wear your sunscreen or reapply every two hours. If you wear a titanium or a zinc-type sunscreen, you can put it on right away and get immediate protection, but that’s really the main thing,” said Dr. Mendelsohn.

And even on cloudy days you can damage eyes and other areas. There is some thought that even people who ski in the winter put skin and eyes at risk without protection.