Sun worshippers beware, no matter your age or darkness, you are in danger of getting skin cancer. While it is difficult to get statistics on the number of local cases, education coordinator for TB Cancer & Health, Rachel Andrade, said Bermudians are becoming much more concerned about it.

At a recent local screening offered by agents for Neutrogena products, many who waited, pointed out spots and moles on their skin that they were particularly concerned about. One woman raved about one of the products she’d used on her hands and seen a noticeable improvement. She said through years of driving in the sun her hands had aged and become spotted because she never thought to use sun block on them.

Ms Andrade, a registered nurse, said it is can get expensive but if you are going to be in the sun it behooves you to protect your skin. She said the sun has become stronger than it was even just five years ago.

“We are a culture that is doing things predominantly outside,” she said. “We just have to be aware that the things we take for granted like the ozone layer to protect us from ultraviolet radiation, isn’t as good as it was. We need to be aware there is potential damage out there from excessive exposure and not protecting our skin.”

And what we often forget is that our skin, just like our heart or lungs, is an organ, in fact it is our biggest organ.

“You do everything to protect your inner organs but do not always look at the skin as an organ,” said Ms Andrade. And because skin is an organ exposure in one area could manifest somewhere else. So that if your face is exposed with no protection and your skin there remains unblemished, it might have shown up someplace else.

“An area you are not suspecting, even an area that is covered up can be triggered by the changes because it is done at a genetic level, at a DNA level, and it might manifest in a place you don’t even think about; like the backs of your legs or on the abdomen, under the nails or soles of feet,” she said.

Sun block can help. It offers the protective barrier to filter out ultraviolet radiation, but Ms Andrade said there is no product on the market that will stay on all day.

“It needs to be re-applied. Even if it says it’s sweat proof, or water proof, it is not ‘not-going-to-come-off’ proof.

“We spend a lot of money on our nails hair and clothes but we should invest in skin protection and make it a part of our daily routine. Make it as common as brushing your teeth.”

Wide brimmed hats that cover the face, shoulders and neck; loose cotton clothing; umbrellas and just staying in the shade, can all help, but with the intensity of the Bermuda sun, Ms Andrade said sun block is a must.

And it is a must for people who are very black as well.

‘The myth is that the darker your skin — you won’t need to use sun block that that is just for wimpy people.” She said many people, both black and white, think it is a whites-only problem and that blacks are protected by the melanin pigmentation in their skin.

“The darker you are the more melanin you have but it will only protect you so far,” she said. “Even persons with dark skin will see their skin darken with exposure to too much sunlight. There’s a catch phrase that says ‘there’s no such thing as a healthy tan’. In any colour of skin, the change in colour is the skin going into protection mode — survival instinct. It is producing melanin to protect you from the damage of ultraviolet radiation.”