By Mike Hall
Most of us know about being sun smart. But what about being wind smart? Is it possible to get windburnt like you get sunburnt?
Winter's over and spring's in the air. The sun's out for longer for all to see and enjoy. But it's what we can't see that's concerning those responsible for the SunSmart message.
“The UV strength is already high enough at this time of the year to cause sunburn in people,” says Wade Beckman of SunSmart.
Also at this time of year, when it's as windy as it is sunny, all the elements are at play. But the fact is there's no such thing as windburn.
“Windburn is a misnomer,” says dermatologist Todd Gunson. “It is certainly true the wind accelerates evaporation and causes a profound drying effect on the skin, but the redness and the tenderness that results from a day out in the sun is almost always due to sunburn.”
The danger of the wind is it lowers the air temperature, making it easy to forget that UV radiation from the sun is still strong and probably burning you.
“One of our key messages is that there's no link at all between temperature and the strength of the UV,” says Mr Beckman.
But with 400 deaths from skin cancer each year, a figure on par with the annual road toll, and slack attitudes toward sun safety, there is still work to be done to highlight the messages from the myths.
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