Teens Erroneously Believe Sun Treats Acne - American Counseling Association, survey - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2001

Half of all teenage respondents mistakenly believe that routine exposure to the summer sun can improve their acne, a survey by the American Counseling Association (ACA) found. While nearly all of them recognized several effective treatments, 26% still endorsed this sun-worshipping ritual as one of the best methods to deal with acne.

Teens consider the summer as the time of the year when it is most important to have a clear complexion. In fact, 32% of young acne sufferers often avoid common summer activities because of their skin condition. Among activities shunned most frequently are wearing a tank top or bathing suit and going to the beach or pool.

Raising awareness of the substantial health risks associated with prolonged tanning, the results of the survey should serve to dispel the persistent myth among teenagers that a healthy tan is a time-honored cure for acne. In particular, it is believed that 80% of the skin's lifetime sun damage typically occurs before the age of 18.

This sun damage often leads to several different types of skin cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classify skin cancer as the most common form of cancer in the U.S. It anticipates more than 1,000,000 new cases to be diagnosed this year alone, and the most serious form of the disease--melanoma--could result in 7,700 deaths.

"I know from firsthand experience that teenagers will go to great lengths in this quest for clear skin," notes dermatologist Diane Berson. "I can't be more emphatic about this issue. A sun tan may temporarily camouflage pimples, but prolonged exposure to the sun can actually exacerbate the skin condition [and] bring about premature wrinkling, benign and precancerous growths, and skin cancers"

"From the moment school breaks for the summer, teenagers are bombarded with images of perfectly bronzed faces that seem to associate self-worth with tanned, unblemished skin," ACA president Judy Lewis points out. "Our goal is to reinforce to teens, regardless of their race, gender, or skin type, that acne is an unavoidable part of growing up that should only be treated with the help of a dermatologist. Teenagers need to acknowledge that exposure to the sun will not help their acne, and may increase the chances of developing future health problems"