from a sunburn later on."

You know, a tan is temporary, but your skin never forgets.

"I'm covered -- I applied sunscreen

on my face, arms, and legs."

You're not covered.

"Getting sunburned once is harmless."

All it takes is one blistering sunburn.

One.

Hi, my name is Jeremy Brauer.

I am a board-certified dermatologist

and a fellowship-trained Mohs surgeon.

I have a new practice in Westchester, New York,

called Spectrum Skin and Laser

as well as practicing in Manhattan for about a decade.

Hi, I'm Dr. Michelle Henry.

I'm a board-certified dermatologist and skin-cancer surgeon.

I have a practice called Skin & Aesthetic Surgery

of Manhattan. I specialize in high-risk skin cancers,

lasers, aesthetics, and general dermatology,

and today we'll be debunking myths about sun care.

"A higher SPF is always better."

So, that, I would have to say, is a myth.

SPF is great when we think about UVB,

or ultraviolet B, rays,

but we also have to worry about our ultraviolet A rays,

which also cause sun damage and skin cancer.

So in that regard, you're looking more for

a broad-spectrum, UVA/UVB-protective sunscreen.

The other part of this that makes it a myth

is higher is not always better.

Yes, 30 is better than 15, 50 is better than 30,

but at some point, roughly around 50,

you're already at 98% blocking of your UVB rays.

And SPF 100 only takes you 1% more, to 99%,

and is that really significant? Likely not.

What's most important to me is that

you're wearing 50 when you're outdoors,

but you also want to make sure you're wearing sunglasses,

utilizing shade structures, you're wearing a hat,

you're paying attention to your skin.

"You can have a 'healthy tan.'"

Absolutely not.

So, this is complete fake news.

We know that UV light is a known carcinogen,

so there really is zero safe dose of UV light.

I would agree.

Healthy and tan do not go together, by definition.

When your skin is tanned, it's damaged.

And when you have damaged skin,

you increase your risk of skin cancer.

We know that approximately 90% of all skin cancers

are directly related to exposure

to ultraviolet A and B rays, and guess what?

Those are what causes a skin to tan.

Exactly. You know, a tan is essentially

just your skin's stress response.

So your skin is distressed when it's tan.

If you want tan skin,

A, understand that your skin is OK

and beautiful the way it is.

But if you for the summer want to look a little bit tanner

and you want to do that in a safe way,

there are many companies that provide very safe

sunless tanning creams, lotions, and sprays

that can give you the look that you want

but also keep you safe.

And that is my singular recommendation for being tan.

"Getting a base tan will protect you

from a sunburn later on."

The tanning salons will tell you

that if you get a base tan before you go out into the sun,

it's going to protect you.

So, a base tan probably gives you about an SPF of 3.

So if you burn in 20 minutes,

now you're going to burn in 60 minutes.

That's nothing. It doesn't really help you significantly.

But what it has done

is increase your risk for skin cancer,

increase your risk for accelerated aging.

And, you know, a tan is temporary,

but your skin never forgets.

So what I tell my patients is that skin cancer

is like the straw that broke the camel's back.

You never know when you're getting that one last exposure

that is now going to tip your skin cells

over into being cancerous.

So there really is zero safe level of UV.

"You can't get sunburned in the shade."

Incorrect. So, you can absolutely

get sunburned in the shade.

Are you skiing? Are you at the beach? Is there sand?

Are you sitting right next to an aluminum garbage can?

No matter where you are, the sun can reflect

off of the concrete, the sand, the snow especially.

With snow, about 80% of the sun's rays actually reflect.

So you're actually still at risk

and still quite vulnerable,

even if you're under a shade structure.

"You only need sunscreen if you're going outside."

That is definitely a myth.

We know for sure that whether you're indoors

sitting by a window or if you're in a car driving,

you are going to get exposure to ultraviolet light.

Primarily it's ultraviolet A,

but as we've been talking about,

ultraviolet A is just as dangerous as ultraviolet B.

And even then, while these windows do protect you

against most of ultraviolet B,

it's not all of ultraviolet B.

Henry: Curtains aren't perfect, because, you know,

clouds aren't even perfect, right?

So UVA makes its way completely through the clouds.

So curtains alone won't do it.

You know, sunscreen alone won't do it.

It is a comprehensive plan to keep your skin safe.

"I'm covered -- I applied sunscreen

on my face, arms, and legs."

You're not covered.

We also think about arms,

but what about the backs of your hands?

And if you're outside wearing flip-flops

or open-toed shoes, sandals,

the tops of your feet as well

need to be protected with sunscreen.

Henry: The lips. That's an area that's really high risk

for skin cancer, and as skin-cancer surgeons,

we know that's one of the areas

where skin cancers can metastasize.

Another area: the part.

When men lose their protective covering

on the scalp, you want to make sure

that you're protecting those areas.

The chest, behind the legs, underneath the chin.

I treat skin cancers underneath the chin all the time.

So even if you're just out on a patio

having lunch with a friend,

that light is getting reflected.

So don't forget underneath the chin as well.

"Getting sunburned once is harmless."

No. This is absolutely incorrect.

All it takes is one blistering sunburn

in your lifetime to increase your risk of skin cancer.

One.

Henry: Those young formative years,

not only are they psychologically important,

but they're clinically important to keeping you safe.

We know that five sunburns before the age of 18

can double your risk for melanoma.

So it's really important

that you're protecting your skin early.

I would say the best way to stay away from us

is actually coming to see us.

Henry: Oh, yes, I like it!

Brauer: Everyone, as you said,

everyone is incurring sun damage.

Everyone should have a skin check

by a board-certified dermatologist.

And the idea is not just

for the dermatologist to take a look at your skin,

but also have a conversation with you

about what your skin looks like

and how you can prevent future sun damage,

prevent development of skin cancer,

what sunscreens might be appropriate for you.

Henry: Once you've had one skin cancer,

you're at an increased risk

of having another one in the next year.

And so it's just, once you've accumulated that damage,

you continue to have them,

and you continue to have them.

And so it's really important

that you take every sun exposure seriously,

because you never know when you're near your tipping point.

And so, yes, what has happened has happened,

but it doesn't mean that it's too late,

and we absolutely can do things for you

to help minimize the risk

of development of skin cancer in the future.

"The sun is strongest when it's hottest."

This is not necessarily true.

The heat that you feel over the course of the day

is actually cumulative, so for most of us,

we actually feel the hottest

a little later in the day, usually about 3 o'clock.

So if you're out at 10, 11 o'clock

and you don't feel it's all that hot outside, guess what?

That's when the UV is actually strongest.

There are certain times of the day

where the sun is at the highest in the sky.

And at that period of time, we believe

that the ultraviolet light that we've talked about,

UVA/UVB, is at its strongest and most damaging.

In general, we talk about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

It can vary slightly, maybe 11 to 4,

but that doesn't necessarily mean

that's when it's hottest during the day.

A little trick that I often use is the shadow trick.

If your shadow is shorter than you,

the sun is higher in the sky.

If your shadow is a little bit longer or taller than you,

so in the late morning or the late afternoon,

then the sun is likely not at its peak.

The other thing to think about is on a cool day,

on a cloudy day, even on a winter day

high up in the mountains, when you're skiing,

you're getting ultraviolet damage occurring.

"People with darker skin don't need sunscreen."

So, everyone needs sunscreen.

It does not matter your skin type.

So we know that melanin is protective,

but melanin is not perfect.

So even the deepest, darkest skin

ranges from an SPF, let's say, 4 to SPF 13.

And what do we recommend?

SPF 30 and above.

So even dark skin is not 100% protective.

We know that we see skin cancers in darker skin types.

What's also important is that in darker skin types

there's often a lower index of suspicion,

so we find them later.

And because of this, the outcomes can be quite worse.

So in darker skin types,

we see that the five-year survival

for melanoma is about 65%.

In lighter skin types, it's about 90%.

And part of that is because

of that lower index of suspicion.

The thing about skin of color

is that redness looks different,

sun damage looks different, but it's still there.

Skin cancers look different.

So some of the most common skin cancers,

like basal cell skin cancers,

which we classically describe as a pearly pink papule,

in a darker-skin patient might look brown.

It might, instead, it's a pearly brown papule.

And so, you know, it's not that it doesn't happen.

It's about being trained in a way

to read those changes, because they're there,

they're present, and it's critical to find them.

"All sunscreen works the same."

Fortunately, they do not,

because variety is really important,

because different skin types have different needs.

And so the two broad categories of sunscreens

are your physical sunscreens

and then your chemical sunscreens.

So, chemical sunscreens work by bonding with your skin,

and they convert UV light to heat.

Physical sunscreens lay on top of the skin,

and they reflect UV light.