Why You Need Sunscreen In Cloudy Autumn

The experts often insist that you need sunscreen year round, including autumn and winter as well as summer.

But if the sky is cloudy and your skin doesn’t burn, it can be hard to understand why you might actually need sunscreen.

The reason is that the sun emits two types of rays that can damage the skin in different ways.

UVB is the one that causes burning, so it is generally the case that this is much less of a risk on cloudy days or during winter when the sun is further away. Burning on a cloudy day is not impossible and anyone spending time outdoors is always well advised to use sunscreen, but compared to a sunny summer day, UVB is generally less of a problem in the winter.

The fact that the skin is at lower risk of burning can lead to a false sense of security. If you can ‘get away with’ being outdoors without sunscreen and not burn, it’s tempting to think that everything must be OK or that you’re being fussy or overcautious by putting on sunscreen. This is not the case!

The other type of ray – UVA – comes through clouds or glass, so these can still damage the skin even in autumn and winter. UVA penetrates deeper into the skin than UVB, going right the skin’s outer layers (epidermis) to the deeper dermal layer. UVA rays can damage DNA and the immunity system, leading to skin cancer melanoma. What’s more, if you’re skin isn’t burning, you may not notice the damage as it happens – and the nature of skin cancer is that it can appear years after the damage was done.

So the best course of action is to prevent sun damage by wearing a daily sunscreen every day of the year. Don’t be tempted to skip it on a cloudy day or stop using it over autumn/winter. The sun protection benefits of wearing sunscreen apply all year round and it’s well worth the cost and few minutes of time to prevent skin cancer.

The other incentive is that UVA causes premature ageing – so wearing a sunscreen that protects against UVA rays year round could keep you looking younger too!

Private Mole Checks & Removal

The London Mole Removal Centre is a private company, offering mole checks and treatment for unwanted moles and other skin lesions (e.g. cysts, skin tags, warts, verruca, lipoma, xanthelasma) at 5 mole removal clinics.

All consultations and treatments are carried out in person by doctors who are specially trained in the latest laser and skin surgery techniques and are highly experienced in the field.

Where the mole is not considered medically a risk, then the NHS will usually deny mole removal on the basis that it is just ‘cosmetic’, so treatment in the private sector is the best approach.

Further advantages of private treatment at the London Mole Removal Centre include: