A lot of new parents love showing their new baby’s off, but of course your baby needs protection as well. Their young skin is especially susceptible to the harmful UV rays given off by the sun. Babies need protection as well, and their not able to protect themselves so the responsibility naturally falls on the parents.
Dittany Baby has recently come out with a new product that will protect your baby from all of the elements be it sun, rain, or nosy neighbors. The Baby Lua that they have come out with fits over your car seat and keeps your baby covered. Some might say the Lua takes things too far and reminds them of something that Michael Jackson would wear, but one thing I can say is it certainly is effective.
The Baby Lua is quick, convenient and is available in all sorts of posh styles. I can see it catching on big time in Hollywood where celebrities want the added advantage of shielding their babies from the cameras of the paparazzi. It might be a little too out there for middle America, but if your goal is to protect your baby from the sun and the rain, then the Baby Lua does its job.
It even comes with an elasticized handle that gives parents arm and hand access while also doubling as a nursing cover for breastfeeding.
Be it stripes, polka dots, or pretty much anything you can imagine, the Baby Lua probably has a design that for you. If your interested in one you can head over to the Dittany Baby website. They range in price from $38 – $65 dollars.
The Baby Lua certainly isn’t for everyone. If that’s not your style you should certainly find another way to protect your child because that is certainly not an area you want to cut corners on. There are many other different hat options available as well as sunscreens. Just make sure that if you plan on exposing them to the sun, you remember to take precautions.
I
think one of the best tactics in order to raise awareness about serious causes, is to have a little fun with it. Fun and memorable promotions do the trick by making it something that people will remember, and talk about. When you get people talking about, your mission of raising awareness just takes its natural course.
Recently, the UK based skin cancer charity Skcin did this with the issue of skin cancer and tanning. The company created the website www.computertan.com. When you go to their site your immediately hit with a promotional video extolling the virtues of their new program to keep you looking tan all year round by using the back light on your LCD to create UV rays and cook your skin to an unhealthy shade of brown. The site is complete with fake products, and even the promise of an I-Phone app coming soon.
It really hits you with the serious nature of the sight when you click and let the tanning experience begin. It simulates your screen lighting up like a tanning bed and reflecting back at you for a few moments. After that it switches and hits you with the message “Don’t be fooled, UV rays can kill you”. It then shows a serious of skin cancer pictures which will scare off anyone.
Users who registered for a PC tanning session through the Computer Tan website expected to be bathed in safe heated UV rays, but were instead confronted by an alarming collection of facts about skin cancer, and photographs of the disease.
The website is making an impact as in the first 24 hours that the sight was live, over 30,000 people visited and registered their interest in the product. I don’t know how many of these people knew it was a joke, and how many actually thought it was real. Either way though when your getting visitors your having an impact. The mysterious nature of the sight is also sure to have people talking about it.
Skcin is the name for the Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity. The charity was started by her family and named in her honor after she passed away from skin cancer on New Year’s Eve 2005. Together with medical professionals at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham, England, her family and friends wanted to establish what is hoped to be the first high profile charitable organization targeting this specific form of cancer in the UK. The principle objective of the charity is to ensure that the danger of over-exposure to the sun is given greater profile with the emphasis on education resulting in the vital early detection of the disease.
I think it is nothing but a success for the people at Skcin. Not only are they getting their message out, but their doing it in a memorable way. For the people that do fall for it, maybe that will open their eyes to how ridiculous the idea of achieving a tan through unnatural means while thinking its safe is.
A new non-toxic radioactive patch has emerged to treat skin cancer that could provide patients with an easier, softer way to go combat skin cancer. The patch would be a nice alternative to all the negative side effects associated with radiation.
The patch was developed and tested by a group led by Priyanka Gupta, a nucleur medicine techinician at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India.
Their findings were presented this summer at the the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in Toronto, and detailed in an article on Oncology Nursing News entitled “Radioactive Patch Could Be Option for Skin Malignancies”.
They tested the patch on a small group of 8 adults suffering from basal cell carcinoma. They elected to try out this form of treatment rather than undergo surgery or radiotherapy.
“While basal cell carcinoma is rarely fatal, it can be a painful and disfiguring disease,” explained Priyanka Gupta, a nuclear medicine technologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and lead author of the study demonstrating this finding. “It’s exciting to think that this patch can deliver treatment on an outpatient basis with little risk of the scarring or other complications that surgery or radiotherapy present. This study opens a new dimension not only for treating skin malignancies, but also for nuclear medicine therapy in general.””
All of the patients used in the study had basal cell carcinoma on their face while having no cancer cells in their underlying facial structure. The patchs were then indiviudually constructed and tailored to each specific patient’s skin cancer lesions.
Basal cell carcinoma is one of the most common forms of skin cancer. While rarely fatal, it can cause a lot of damage if allowed to spread to other areas of the body. Each year about 1 million Americans are diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma.
The patches contained radioactive phosphorous-32, and we worn by the patients for 3 hours a day for 3 days over the course of the week. Three months after treatment the results can be interupretted as nothing but a success. Biopsies had revealed that the patients had no residual malignant cancer, while at the same time suffering few adverse effects and minimal scarring.
Its a very small test group were talking about here, but if these results could be repeated on a large scale this would be a major step forward. Nobody likes to go under the knife which almost certainly entails a hospital stay. We all also know about the massive amount of negative side effects that come with radiation treatment. If you could just walk in to a doctor’s office and get a patch to wear around for a few days instead, that decision would be an easy one for most people.
Now I’m a big fan of fish. Not only do I think it tastes good, but couple that with the health benefits and its really just a smart, tasty choice for lunch or dinner. Fish for breakfast, I’m not so sure about.
There’s now another benefit that can be added on to consuming our friends from the sea. A article in today’s New Haven Register entitled “Fish May be Defense Against Skin Cancer” suggests that fish can also help to prevent skin cancer.
The article talks about a recent study, whose findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that examined the effects of eating fish on the occurrence of actinic keratoses. AK’s, as their more commonly know, are those rough red patches that can pop up on skin as we age and are especially prevalent in skin that’s been damaged by the sun’s rays. More than 50% of invasive squamous skin cancers start out as simple AK’s. That means that by preventing the appearance of AK’s, you can thus reduce your risk of possibly developing skin cancer.
This study was conducted in Australia and examined the diets of over 1,100 adults over a 4 year period. The individuals participating in the study were examined for AK’s at the beginning and again at the end of the monitoring period. They found that over that period there was a 28% reduction in the appearance of AK’s among the people that ate fish the most compared to the people that ate it the least. The study as well found that the types of fish that provided the most benefit were the more oily fish such as salmon.
This study also found that drinking red wine in moderation reduced the appearance of AK”s as well. This backs up a different Italian study we reported about here that also found a link between moderate wine consumption and a reduction of cancer.
Of course the best way to avoid skin cancer is always going to be to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays by wearing sunscreen, protective clothing, and staying out of that brutal midday sun, but these types of studies show us other factors that can at least help out a little bit.
So the next time your thinking about what to have for dinner, why not give some consideration to a glass of wine and that a wonderful piece of grilled salmon. Not only will you be eating healthy and tasty, but your also be doing a little bit to prevent skin cancer. Every little bit helps.
When people do think about protecting themselves from the sun, which is not often enough at all, they first think of course about their skin. After that if were they might think about their eyes. Another area that hardly ever gets thought about is your hair.
Just like other parts of your body, your hair suffers negative consequences from exposure to the sun. With the amount of time, money, and energy that people seem to devote to their hair these days, you would think that people would think about its protection. Unfortunately that’s not very true.
Some of the damage that exposure to the sun does to your hair is simply aesthetically damaging. If you color your hair, sun exposure can cause the color to fade. Why spend all that money to get your hair colored to then walk around leaving it without protection from the sun?
Also, just like skin, hair is made up of proteins that require moisture to thrive. Exposure to the sun can sap your hair of this moisture it needs to remain healthy. Sun exposure can directly lead to split ends, breakage, dryness and dehydration. A major difference between hair and skin though is that hair is dead. When hair losses its moisture, the only way to replenish it is through the use of a treatment or conditioner.
Just like with skincare products, there are special haircare SPF products. There are many different kinds of leave in conditioners that incorporate sun protection into the product. There are also different shampoos and conditioners that you can use that carry SPF protection. If you plan on being out in the sun for a prolonged period of time, then you should look into using one of these. If you plan on using one of these products remember to pay special attention to where the hair parts, along the temple, and behind your neck and ears. These are some of the areas that can be most problematic.
Of course, a probably easier solution would be to just wear a hat. This protects not only your hair but also your vulnerable scalp from the sun’s UV rays. A sunburned scalp can be very detrimental, and can trigger hair loss.
Its also a good idea to get your hair trimmed if you plan on going on a vacation or before spending a summer at the beach. Getting a trim can decreases the damage by “removing unhealthy ends before you hit the sun,” writes Lisa Kovalovich in Ladies’ Home Journal.
If you care about your hair you have to remember to protect it just like the other parts of your body. The sun is our friend and there’s no need to avoid fun filled outdoor activities, just certain precautions need to be taken beforehand. By thinking ahead and doing some easy protective measures, you can save yourself a whole lot of potential harm down the road. Protecting yourself from the sun is just so much easier than the alternative.
If your interested in getting a protective hat to keep your hair looking fantastic, please head on over to our sponsor’s site Physician Endorsed Store. They can set you up with a great hat that will not only protect you and your lovely hair, but have you looking stylish at the same time.
