Drum Corps and Skin Cancer

[gbrassboy]

My mother actually gave me a pamphlet that tells you what to look for so you can check yourself for skin cancer. You could probably get one from your doctor’s office or dermatologist. And one thing that I’ve seen done is wearing the long sleeve white generic under armour from wal-mart. I heard you do not get burned and it doesn’t feel like you are wearing a shirt at all.

[jonnyboy]

Oh my...there are contacts with a UV filter? I'll have to tell my daughter since The Cadets aren't allowed to wear sunglasses at rehearsal.

Thanks! :)

I am sure The Cadets policy of "no sun glasses" is to emulate performance conditions. You wear glasses all day, then take them off for the show you have a different perspective.

Too me, this policy sucks. You are risking health for points, never a good idea. Maybe The Cadets should let members wear sunglasses all day, and have them take the glasses of for run-throughs or several times a day during visual feid rehearsal. You know....."get water, sunscreen and set up for a NO GLASSES run of section k-p".

When I marched we had to wear hats with brims outside at all times...no exceptions, even on cloudy days. Sunglasses were allowed for parades but not shows.

[byline]

Anyway apart from the digression in to PABA, I strongly urge all of you who are fair skinned, red or auburn haired, (um naturally)freckled (on the backs especially), of Northern European ancestry particularly (Irish, English Scottish, Scandanavian) have blue or grey eyes, and have gotten burns as children to do yourselves a favor and load up on the sun screen.

Yup, this report from the CDC notes that people with a history of one or more blistering sunburns during childhood or adolescence are two times as likely to develop melanoma than those who did not have that kind of exposure. Because I had family in California and Florida, I can recall several pretty bad sunburns during childhood, a few in high school, and then more my first year of marching corps. I'm also fair-skinned and freckle easily, so I have no illusions about what my skin cancer risks are.

[SoonerFan04]

When I marched we had to wear hats with brims outside at all times...no exceptions, even on cloudy days. Sunglasses were allowed for parades but not shows.

Same here. Hats are required all day until sun-down.

[byline]

I think the lawsuit thing is a bit much...even though i couldnt imagine not being able to wear sunglass outside, I've been to their rehearsals, and every single member is always wearing a hat. I would think that except for extreme circumstances, that would be sufficient to keep the sun off your eyes, and in the case of a sunset where the sun would be below the brim, im pretty sure the UV rays arent as damaging because the light is traveling through more atmosphere (correct me if im wrong). Its not a policy i would use, but its hardly irresponsible.

It depends what type of hat they're wearing. If it's a wide-brimmed hat with a 3-inch brim going all the way around, then they're probably OK, but if it's only a baseball cap or visor, then that offers only limited protection, and they're still at risk.

Sorry, but I think it's an irresponsible policy because it prevents members from taking action which may be best for them to protect their eyes from sun damage . . . in an activity which, if they choose to participate, forces them to be out in the sun for prolonged periods of time.

[aatlb25]

It depends what type of hat they're wearing. If it's a wide-brimmed hat with a 3-inch brim going all the way around, then they're probably OK, but if it's only a baseball cap or visor, then that offers only limited protection, and they're still at risk.

Sorry, but I think it's an irresponsible policy because it prevents members from taking action which may be best for them to protect their eyes from sun damage . . . in an activity which, if they choose to participate, forces them to be out in the sun for prolonged periods of time.

I think you should write a letter to Mr.Hopkins.

[byline]

I think you should write a letter to Mr.Hopkins.

Sure, he'll love me! :P

Before I would go writing any letters, though, I'd want to be absolutely certain that it is the Cadets' policy. The information I'm posting here is more of a general information nature, and anyone who's in Cadets can take it to the corps' management as a concern. The parent with a daughter in Cadets who posted earlier is in a much better position than I am to take this information to the powers-that-be and ask that the policy--if it is, indeed, in effect--be changed.

Edited April 15, 2006 by byline

[byline]

My mother actually gave me a pamphlet that tells you what to look for so you can check yourself for skin cancer.

Here's an article that outlines the basic steps: Skin Examinations

[sobe]

Everydays + SPF 4 or 8 Tanning Oil = the win

[Mellojaphoney]

Actually, it's the evaporation of the sweat that keeps you cool. I don't remember the specifics from chemistry class last year, but suffice it to say that the transfer of energy reqired for the liquid sweat to evaporate into a gas is what cools you down.

Here, wikipedia says it best:

In humans, sweating is primarily a means of temperature regulation. Evaporation of sweat from the skin surface has a cooling effect due to the latent heat of evaporation of water. Hence, in hot weather, or when the individual's muscles heat up due to exertion, more sweat is produced. Sweating is increased by nervousness and nausea and decreased by cold. Animals with few sweat glands, such as dogs, accomplish similar temperature regulation results by panting, which evaporates water from the moist lining of the oral cavity and pharynx.

What keeps you cool is the shirt absorbs the moisture and when its in contact with moving air, it remains cool because it is moist, as opposed to evaporating off your skin.

Everydays + SPF 4 or 8 Tanning Oil = the win

Tanning oil is NOT sun screen by a long shot. Tanning oil actually magnifies the suns rays to make you more tan. The only thing that it does that may seem helpful is to prevent the skin from burning or turning red, but this is the skins first reaction to too much sun exposure, so you are actually doing alot more harm than good.

And whoever mentioned wearing hats on cloudy days... Everyone should wear sunscreen on cloudy days because that's how you get the "mysterious cloud burn." The clouds are filtering out light, but the UV rays still come through them leaving your skin with a fiesty burn. It's important to remember that LIGHT does not burn you, it's the really harmful UV rays that do it. They penetrate deep into your skin and destroy collagen, elastin, as well as cells which can mutate into cancerous cells because the UV rays are basically a catalyst to them.

One last thing. My dermatologist told me that the behind your ears is one of the most succeptable places for cancer because of the exposure it gets from baseball hats and what not, and it is also the hardest place to remove cancer. So don't forget to put sunscreen there. Plus that's always a painful spot to be peeling off.