Almost half of people who travel to tropical countries report having suffered from sunburns, according to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology.
Tourists do not seem to have realized the dangers of the sun.
According to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, conducted on more than 1000 passengers of different nationalities, over the age of 35, people who travel to tropical countries do not protect themselves enough from the sun.
The respondents were travelers leaving or returning from tropical countries (Caribbean, Canary Islands, South Africa), who were at the Franco-Swiss airport of Basel-Mulhouse. 44% said they had a burn during their stay, and almost 30% had had painful cases of burns. The most affected parts are the face, neck and shoulders, décolleté, arms and trunk.
The travelers surveyed are nevertheless aware of the risks of UV rays for the skin, since nearly 100% of travelers put sunscreen in their suitcase. “The number of burns coming back from vacation, places where UV radiation is intense, is very high, even if the majority of those questioned showed that they had a real knowledge of the risks of developing tumors and of premature aging. the skin, ”said Christian Surber of the University of Basel and survey author. Around 97% of those polled therefore had sunscreen in their suitcase, 93% sunglasses and 63% a hat.
Travelers therefore seem aware of the dangers of the sun, but do not take the necessary measures to protect themselves from it.
A high risk of melanoma
Exposure to UV radiation being a main risk factor for melanoma, causing skin cancer, it is necessary to make people aware of the risks associated with prolonged exposure to the sun, without sun protection.
Melanoma is a very dangerous form of skin cancer because of its ability to metastasize in vital organs such as the lungs, liver or brain. More than one in 10 patients die from skin cancer metastases that have affected an internal organ.
Skin cancers are thought to affect 80,000 people a year, and most of them are due to uncontrolled overexposure, especially in childhood. This is why dermatologists recently launched with the La Roche-Posay laboratory, the “solar patent”, an operation which consists in initiating, in a fun way, children of primary classes to scientific knowledge concerning sun and UV rays so that they can also explain to their parents why and how they need to protect themselves.
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