July is UV Awareness Month

Summertime is here and along with the sunny skies come risks. Overexposure to the sun may cause aging of the skin, wrinkles, and skin cancer. July is UV Awareness Month and Board Certified plastic surgeon Steven C. Schmidt, MD, has some sun safety tips for you and your family.

Ultraviolet rays

It’s a common misconception that tanning beds are safer than the sun because they only use Ultraviolet A rays. “Unfortunately, that’s not true. Ultraviolet A is a strong contributor to skin cancer. Not only that, the rays of Ultraviolet A penetrate deeper into our skin than Ultraviolet B and is a primary cause of aging of our skin,” Dr. Schmidt said.

Dr. Schmidt tells us more about the three types of ultraviolet rays in the video below.

Avoiding ultraviolet light, whether it’s from the sun or tanning beds, will help prevent photo-aging of your skin, as well as the production of skin cancer.