22/09/2026
☀️ If only I could have a little chat with my 20 year old self…
I loved sunbathing!
I grew up at a time when being brown was considered healthy looking, and in the 1980s I used sunbeds. 😳
Then I got sensible. 😂
I’ve been an avid sunscreen user since 2004, and these days I’m obsessive about sun protection.
Unfortunately, sunscreen doesn’t come with a time machine.
Recently I was diagnosed with my first actinic keratosis (AK) on my face. An AK is an area of sun damaged skin caused by cumulative UV exposure and that damage can show itself years, even decades, later.
I’ve just finished treating mine with Efudex, a prescription cream containing 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). It targets abnormal sun damaged cells and causes an inflammatory reaction as those damaged cells are destroyed.
It’s not particularly glamorous while it’s doing its job. 😂
AKs are important because they’re considered precancerous. Most won’t become cancer, but some can progress to squamous cell carcinoma, which is why new, persistent or changing skin lesions are worth getting checked.
Some of the decisions made by 1980s Michelle have finally caught up with me!
But here’s where sunscreen gets really interesting:
We know that UV radiation can damage the DNA in our skin cells and contribute to the development of skin cancers.
And we have something better than skincare marketing to support sunscreen use, randomised controlled trial evidence.
A large Australian study randomly assigned adults to daily sunscreen use or to continue using sunscreen as they normally would.
Regular sunscreen use was associated with a reduction in squamous cell carcinomas, and longer term follow up of the same trial also found fewer melanomas in the daily sunscreen group.
So while we often talk about sunscreen in terms of pigmentation and skin ageing, its most important job is helping protect our skin from the UV damage that can contribute to skin cancer. ❤️
But there’s an interesting bonus…
Researchers also assessed 903 adults under 55 from the study for skin ageing. After 4½ years, those assigned to daily broad spectrum sunscreen use showed 24% less skin ageing than those using sunscreen at their own discretion.
So sunscreen isn’t just helping reduce UV damage that can contribute to skin cancer.
It can also help slow some of the pigmentation, uneven texture, loss of elasticity and other visible changes we associate with photoageing.
You don’t need to be lying on a beach turning yourself into a rotisserie chicken for UV exposure to add up. 😂
It’s everyday life too: walking the dog, gardening, driving, sitting outside with a coffee. Those little bits of exposure accumulate over a lifetime.
I’ve worn sunscreen religiously for more than 20 years, but it can’t erase the UV exposure I had when I was young.
That doesn’t mean it’s too late to start.
We can’t change what we did in our teens, 20s or 30s, but we can protect the skin we have today.
Sunscreen isn’t particularly glamorous.
No needles.
No fancy machines.
No miraculous promises.
Nothing particularly fancy, just one of the most evidence based things we can do to protect our skin. ☀️
While helping our skin age better is a nice bonus, reducing our lifetime UV exposure and our risk of skin cancer is the bit that really matters.
If I ever invent a time machine, though, I’m taking a bottle of SPF50 straight back to 1986 😂
And perhaps having a fairly stern word with myself about those sun-beds 😳
