KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Using sunscreen regularly can help you avoid skin cancer. If that isn’t reason enough to use it, here’s another — vanity!
Researchers studied nearly 1,000 young and middle-aged adults living in Australia where there is a lot of sun exposure.
The results are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers took silicone molds of the participants’ hands when the study started and again four and a half years later. Half were told to use sunscreen daily with a sun protection factor or SPF of 15. The others were just told to use sunscreen as they normally would.
The group that used it daily had 24 percent less aging. Their skin wasn’t as wrinkled or as rough. Doctors say this is important since vanity can be a strong motivator to use sunscreen especially in young people who aren’t typically as concerned about skin cancer as older people.
