Growing up, my girlfriends and I would float around my parent’s pool having serious discussions about the quality of our tans and if anything should go wrong, we can always get chemical peels and lasers in the future to make us look good! We’d laugh as my mom would poke her head out with her usual “wear sunblock warning,” mumbling something about sun damage, wearing her “fly” glasses, which we made fun of even though they’ve since come back in style about twice, I think I own a pair!
So year after year and tan after tan, burn after burn I’m not seeing any of my mom’s tragic warnings surfacing…yet! Then one day...Spots!!! I SEE SPOTS!!
Thankfully, I’ve spent most of my career working with some pretty amazing skincare companies including some doctors, and one who was excited about his fabulous new laser machine.
One day a patient came for her appointment, and as we all do, I had assessed her age etc., then viewed her paperwork. I guessed her age to be about ten years older than mine, I could see very visible loss of elasticity, texture, spots etc…she was in fact…my age exactly!!!! She was a tennis player and always in the sun, not wearing sunblock!!
After that day I was scared straight, I vowed never to lay out unless I happened to be on vacation. Even then, I will apply, reapply, reapply that SPF. Mom was right! In fact, it is truly my only regret in life, not wearing SPF. And the worst part of sun damage is you don’t see it right away and then all of your tanning sins will haunt you later. It’s beyond just damage; it is your health, as skin cancer is on the rise. It’s real and no matter what skin color you are born with, the sun does not discriminate, protect yourself before you wreck yourself!
Thank God that the future my friend and I fantasized about with lasers and chemical peels became reality. I’ve had them, they work, but frankly sunblock is so much cheaper. Look for a high SPF and always reapply. The last I checked, sun damage is not a hot look for anyone!
Think I’ll wear my “fly” glasses today and call my mom, tell her she was right…to this day her skin looks wonderful! No lasers, no peels, just her SPF.”