Summer Raises the Importance of Skin Protection

(KNSI) – Summer in Minnesota means the sun is strong and the days are long.

Sarah Tasto is a nurse practitioner at the Midwest Clinic of Dermatology in St. Cloud. She says there are several steps you should be taking to keep your skin safe. She recommends 30 SPF sunscreen even when you are inside, and it should be applied every two hours when outdoors.

Tasto also urges some changes to your wardrobe to help out. “UPF clothing that has a UPF rating of 50 is going to block 98% of your ultraviolet radiation. And, so, you can get various different styles of clothing, but they’re all going to be a nice, long sleeve, long pants hat type version, and they’ve got a specific weave to them that helps to block the ultraviolet radiation.”

A final suggestion is to find shade as often as possible in the midday hours between 10:00 a.m., and 2:00 p.m. Minnesota has the third highest rate of skin cancer in the country, with melanomas being the most dangerous. Tasto discusses what experts are looking for when evaluating a potential trouble spot on patients.

“We follow the ABCs and Ds of melanoma, for watching for melanomas, and that stands for asymmetry, border, color, diameter. And a couple other criteria would be E for evolving and F for feel.”

Asymmetry refers to the shape of the mole or lesion. You want it to be relatively uniform in its roundness. They inspect the border to see if there are jagged edges. Moles should be light or dark brown, but black, blues, or red shading is a concern. Tasto doesn’t want to see a mole grow bigger than the size of a pencil eraser. The last criterion is whether the mole is changing in size or shape and whether you can feel it. Feel refers to whether there is pain on contact or bleeding.

Tasto says Minnesota is vulnerable to skin diseases due to its high percentage of farmers and other workers who spend most of their days outdoors and enjoy recreation opportunities, such as hiking, fishing, or otherwise enjoying the lake.

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