Exposure to solar radiation at this time of year is a very important issue. As we know, solar radiation is one of the risk factors for the onset of skin cancers. Scientists have identified “high-risk groups” that need to pay close attention to sun exposure.
In many countries, including Italy, skin cancers are considered to be occupational diseases in all respects for some categories of workers.
According to the magazine of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, in Italy at least 700,000 workers must learn to protect themselves. Only one other carcinogen is found to put the health of multiple workers at risk: cigarette smoke.
So who are these workers at risk? A research, published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, carried out by a team of German researchers, involved 778 between women and men divided between indoor and outdoor workers – farmers, mountain guides and gardeners. The results were astonishing.
What happens to these workers and what to do
In one third of the mountain guides were found to have cases of non-melanoma skin cancers (despite using sunscreen in many cases), in 27% of farmers, and in 19.5% of gardeners. Between indoor workers, skin cancer cases were only 5.6%. Altitude and the number of hours spent outdoors were the main factors that caused the onset of the disease.
The tumors were mainly found in areas of the body exposed to the sun – over 80 percent on the face and forehead, but none on the back of the neck. Causal links have been shown with the main types of skin cancers, squamous or squamous cell carcinomas, basal cell carcinomas, melanoma, and actinic keratosis, a lesion that can develop into squamous cell carcinoma.
How to prevent the risks of getting sick? Inail has issued a handbook aimed at outdoor workers, to defend themselves from solar radiation. Remember to use first hats able to protect the face, ears and neck, and clothing that covers arms and legs; despite it being hot, the best protection it is covering the skin, using light fabrics, which do not attract too much the rays, fresh and wide.
The most important advice remains that, very important, to avoid exposure to the sun if possible in the hours most at risk – peaking between 11 and 15 – and to try to stay in the shade to eat meals. Use sunglasses it is always important (of good quality, that they can reflect the sun’s rays), and always use a sunscreen cream, even in winter. This means that, especially in summer, even if the sky is cloudy, you must absolutely protect your skin.