Cosmetic Surgery Blog

I am about to go on vacation. I will be spending a week lying on a beach on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, surrounded by family members. I can’t wait.

This is the third year in a row that we have had a family reunion in North Carolina, with my brothers and sister and their kids and their kids’ kids coming in from four states. The past two years, it was 10 adults and 5 kids, all in one large house. This year, it will be 13 adults and 5 kids, all in one house. No one in my family is a bad cook and we take turns making dinner. We decided the first year that we did this that if nothing we did made the national news the vacation would be considered a success. I have a large, loving, loud, and rowdy extended family. Our family reunions have registered on the Richter scale in the past.

So what am I doing to get ready for the beach? First, I went out and got a good-sized hat. I like to wear a hat because I once badly sunburned the part in my hair and I will never do that again. My hat from the last two years, a straw hat, finally bit the dust. This year, I bought a white cloth hat with a really big brim all around. It covers up my shoulders a bit, even. Actually, when I have the 4-inch brim pulled down, I can only see about 4 feet in front of me. Maybe I overdid it, but I like the hat.

Next, I am going to throw out last year’s sunscreen and buy new stuff. Sunscreen has a rather short shelf life and whatever you have left over from last year should be tossed out. I am very fussy about my sunscreen. I buy whatever is on sale, exclusively.

Actually, I usually get the Bullfrog brand when I can find it because they make a very good waterproof sunscreen and I am in and out of the water continuously when I am at the beach. However, I have also used Coppertone products and liked them.

A lot gets written about SPF (sun protection factor). An SPF number means that you can stay out in the sun for that many times longer than you can if you were wearing no sunscreen. If you normally take 10 minutes to burn, a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 would let you stay out for 150 minutes safely.

However, this is a rule of thumb and is true in theory more than it is in reality, since factors such as how much of the product is absorbed by your skin or washed off by sweat can change things. Don’t forget that when you wipe yourself off with a towel after taking a swim you are wiping off some of the sunscreen, too.

SPF numbers only apply to protection against ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) and not ultraviolet A radiation, both of which are part of sunlight. UVB causes sunburn, but UVA can damage the skin and lead to skin cancer as well. In the European Union, they are also using a system called the PPD to measure UVA protection of sunscreens. Generally, however, the best ingredients for good UVA protection are zinc oxide, avobenzone, and ecamsule, but a lot of companies have use brand names for their ingredients.

I usually get a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 to 45 or so and read the label. I also get the most waterproof stuff I can find since I am in the water a lot.

In the past couple of years, the sunscreen and tanning lotion folks have come up with these neat aerosol dispensers. I thought that they could not possibly give good solid coverage, but they do. You do have to make a note of which way the wind is blowing when you are applying it at the beach, but it does cover nicely. When I am good, I put the first coat on before I leave the house because it takes 20 minutes for sunscreen to take effect. And when I am good I remember to put on a fresh coat every few hours.

I also sit under an umbrella or beach tent when I can. My nephew puts up a tent on the beach because his red-haired wife and kids have got to be the world’s palest people and they honestly need the shade in addition to industrial strength sunscreens. As I said in a previous post, I spent a few years of my life toasting in the sun and I am trying to make up for that now.

Last year, I bought two tankini bathing suits with separate bottoms that had a skirt. I am a full-figured woman and thought the skirts would look better than my usual tank bathing suits. They looked OK when they were dry, but in the water the skirts swirled around and up and sagged down and I felt like I was swimming through seaweed. Enough of that! This year, I got plain skirtless bathing suit bottoms to match the tops from last year and I may bring along one of the old tank swimsuits as well. I do not look skinny, nor do I expect to, but I will look well put together. Anyone who doesn’t like the way I look in a bathing suit can look the other way.

So, I will be taking a long walk on the beach each morning, swimming and hanging out until it is time for cocktails, and then eating dinner. Not a bad way to spend a vacation.

UPDATE: I mentioned in a previous post that the American Academy of Dermatology was sponsoring free skin cancer screenings around the country. I went to one and am happy to report that I have a clean bill of health, at least as far as my skin goes. They also gave out free samples of sunscreens, which was icing on the cake. If you want to find a free skin cancer screening near you, go to http://www.aad.org and they have a link to cancer screenings right on the home page.