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American Morning

House Call: Protecting Yourself From the Sun

Aired July 30, 2003 - 09:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Sunscreen under your clothes? It might sound a little bit crazy, but a new study suggests it might be the best way to ward off skin cancer.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta join us this morning and has details in his morning house call.

Good morning. Nice to see you again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know what the most common cancer is?

O'BRIEN: Skin cancer?

GUPTA: Yes, 40 percent of all cancers in fact. About 1.3 million skin cancers every year that are non-melanoma, not as serious. But there's also about 53,000 melanoma skin cancers. We're going to talk about both of those in a second. Interesting new study, though, out of Sweden, a country with a lot of fair-haired and fair-skinned people, interesting in that the number of cancers, these non-melanoma skin cancers actually on the rise. Even more remarkable, the places where the skin cancers are located in places normally covered by clothing. So both those things, both those facts coming out of this particular study.

Again, you've heard the numbers. There's lots of things can you do to try and protect yourself. One of the things they attribute this increase, rise in cancer is to the fact there is probably more reporting, a good thing. Also probably more intentional sun exposure, either through the outside or through tanning beds. And finally, it appears the UV and UVB lights actually penetrate clothing, including shirts pants, underwear, even, according to this particular study. All sorts of things to try and ward that off.

Here's a shirt, actually. Just a running shirt. It's black, which isn't probably a good color to be running outside, but this will protect you up to an SPF of 30 outside.

O'BRIEN: They market the shirt that way? This is one of those special polypropylene kind of special materials? They market it to protect the skin?

GUPTA: They market it to protect the skin. SPF, a lot of people ask what that means. SPF of 30 mean it takes 30 times as long as sun exposure to actually give you the same splotchiness that you might get from being outside in the sun. O'BRIEN: Is it basic advice then to run out and get clothes that have some kind of SPF rating, or throwing on your long-sleeved shirt while you're at the beach, things like that? Does that work equally as well?

GUPTA: It probably will. And then the question comes about whether or not what you mentioned, actually putting the sunscreen on underneath clothing. That's an option as well.

There are lots of tips out there that people have known for quite some time. First of all, there you see common clothing that actually has the SPF and how little of the SPF protection there is, in the nylon stockings, for example, SPF of 2. Sun protective clothing, which I just showed you here, up to an SPF of 30.

All of the old sort of tips apply as well, wearing the wide- brimmed hats, trying to stay outside between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00, avoid sunbathing.

Two types of UV light, UVA and UVB. People always ask me about this as well. UVA is the more common kind. That's the kind that you're really going to get throughout the day. It's more likely associated with aging. UVB is a stuff that's out between the hours ever 10:00 and 2:00, a really bright, intense light. That's the stuff more associated with cancer. You want to avoid both of them if you can.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, doctors say, stay out of both of them as much if possible.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 30, 2003 - 09:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Sunscreen under your clothes? It might sound a little bit crazy, but a new study suggests it might be the best way to ward off skin cancer.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta join us this morning and has details in his morning house call.

Good morning. Nice to see you again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know what the most common cancer is?

O'BRIEN: Skin cancer?

GUPTA: Yes, 40 percent of all cancers in fact. About 1.3 million skin cancers every year that are non-melanoma, not as serious. But there's also about 53,000 melanoma skin cancers. We're going to talk about both of those in a second. Interesting new study, though, out of Sweden, a country with a lot of fair-haired and fair-skinned people, interesting in that the number of cancers, these non-melanoma skin cancers actually on the rise. Even more remarkable, the places where the skin cancers are located in places normally covered by clothing. So both those things, both those facts coming out of this particular study.

Again, you've heard the numbers. There's lots of things can you do to try and protect yourself. One of the things they attribute this increase, rise in cancer is to the fact there is probably more reporting, a good thing. Also probably more intentional sun exposure, either through the outside or through tanning beds. And finally, it appears the UV and UVB lights actually penetrate clothing, including shirts pants, underwear, even, according to this particular study. All sorts of things to try and ward that off.

Here's a shirt, actually. Just a running shirt. It's black, which isn't probably a good color to be running outside, but this will protect you up to an SPF of 30 outside.

O'BRIEN: They market the shirt that way? This is one of those special polypropylene kind of special materials? They market it to protect the skin?

GUPTA: They market it to protect the skin. SPF, a lot of people ask what that means. SPF of 30 mean it takes 30 times as long as sun exposure to actually give you the same splotchiness that you might get from being outside in the sun. O'BRIEN: Is it basic advice then to run out and get clothes that have some kind of SPF rating, or throwing on your long-sleeved shirt while you're at the beach, things like that? Does that work equally as well?

GUPTA: It probably will. And then the question comes about whether or not what you mentioned, actually putting the sunscreen on underneath clothing. That's an option as well.

There are lots of tips out there that people have known for quite some time. First of all, there you see common clothing that actually has the SPF and how little of the SPF protection there is, in the nylon stockings, for example, SPF of 2. Sun protective clothing, which I just showed you here, up to an SPF of 30.

All of the old sort of tips apply as well, wearing the wide- brimmed hats, trying to stay outside between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00, avoid sunbathing.

Two types of UV light, UVA and UVB. People always ask me about this as well. UVA is the more common kind. That's the kind that you're really going to get throughout the day. It's more likely associated with aging. UVB is a stuff that's out between the hours ever 10:00 and 2:00, a really bright, intense light. That's the stuff more associated with cancer. You want to avoid both of them if you can.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, doctors say, stay out of both of them as much if possible.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com