Summer safety for you and your children

When it comes to summer, Olivia Kane, 36, mostly remembers the happy times. But there are other memories she wishes she could forget. Like the time she went to the seaside to get a tan. ‘What I got was a bright red sunburn,’ she says. ‘I had blistered cheeks, and a blistered chest.’

But her worst summer memory was when she took a sip from a can of drink and gulped down a bee that had crawled into the can when she wasn't looking. ‘I knew I swallowed something,’ she says. ‘I got so hysterical that I threw up.’ Out came the bee and she went straight to accident and emergency where she was treated for difficulty breathing.

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Experts say people can minimise the risks to their health related to summertime activities and prevention is better than a cure. So before you pack your swimsuit or head off on a walking holiday, brush up on these summer hazards.

Sunburn

As a child Linda Talbott got frequent, blistering sunburns while playing outside all day. Then when she was at college, it was cool to be tanned. ‘Everyone wanted a tan, and I thought tanned skin looked beautiful,’ she says. ‘But it's not beautiful when you're 65 and you've had melanoma.’

In 1997, Linda noticed a dark spot under her left eye. ‘I thought it was mascara, but it grew to the size of a raisin and started to bleed after about six weeks,’ she says. Her doctor said it was melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer. Another mark on her cheek, previously misdiagnosed as an age spot, also turned out to be malignant. She needed immediate surgery on her face to remove the cancerous tissue and save her life.

Cancer experts warn that everyone is at risk for skin cancer, but the risks are higher for people with:

Light skin colour
Light hair or eye colour
A family history of skin cancer
Chronic sun exposure
A history of sunburns early in life
Freckles.

Exposure to artificial sources of light such as tanning booths also increases the risk of skin cancer.

Sunburn prevention and treatment

Remember to limit sun exposure, wear protective clothing, and use sunscreen. Sunscreen should be applied 30 minutes before going outdoors and reapplied at least every two hours. Use water-resistant sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher.

Cancer Research UK says there are no laws to make manufacturers test sunscreens, but there are regulations about what claims manufacturers can make about them. If a manufacturer says a product has a certain SPF factor, there has to be scientific evidence to support the claim. All major European makers of sunscreen have entered into a voluntary agreement on a standard SPF test method.

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