Saving your skin.

• Author: Zipes, Douglas
• Position: Neighborhood Heart Watch - Tips to help prevent skin cancer - Brief Article

Protection is the key to reducing your risk of skin cancer. Fortunately, consumers have a wide array of choices in sunscreens, sunglasses, sunless tanning products, and even clothing that offer cover from the number-one cause of all skin cancers--the sun.

Dermatologist C. William Hanke, an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of skin disorders and current vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, provides the following advice on how best to avoid harmful exposure to the sun:

* "Clothing can provide protection against ultraviolet light, but it depends on the weave. If you can hold the clothing up to the light and see through it, the sun can see through it, also. You need something with a tighter weave, so that the sun's rays do not penetrate the clothing and get through to your skin.

* "It is important to wear sunglasses because your eyes, as well as your skin, are at risk for ultraviolet damage. The most important factor about sunglasses is to select a pair that wraps around and covers a large area, rather than very tiny sunglasses that our...