Sun Pro

[luwayo]

dear gentle readers,

this is something that weighs in the back of my mind. my frequency in the alpine is 1-3x per week; 52 weeks a year. i'm exposed to a lot of sun & snow.

 

on clear days, i try to cover up head to toe. but i worry about the back of my HANDS. glovewear in the warmer months is uncomfortable. it looks goofy too. but i submit to it. what brings this concern to the forefront every now and again, are the melanoma scares at work. as well, my boss routinely tells me about his bumps & lumps that have to be burned off. i want to stave off this insidiousness.

 

do you take precautions in this regard? if so, what?

[G-spotter]

 

If gloves are a no-no there's always the parasol!

 

or you could just make tape gloves and pretend you were a climber from washington

[layton]

just do what you can (sun screen, gloves). sounds pretty unavoidable. Up your antioxidant intake (vit E, selineum, etc...) to help combat any free radical damage.

 

Just keep track of what looks normal for your skin. If you see anything with 1.) a weird color 2.)growing quickly 3.)irregular boarders or surface, then see a dermatologist pronto. If you catch it, then it's easily removed and little concern for spread.

[catbirdseat]

dear gentle readers,

this is something that weighs in the back of my mind. my frequency in the alpine is 1-3x per week; 52 weeks a year. i'm exposed to a lot of sun & snow.

 

on clear days, i try to cover up head to toe. but i worry about the back of my HANDS. glovewear in the warmer months is uncomfortable. it looks goofy too. but i submit to it. what brings this concern to the forefront every now and again, are the melanoma scares at work. as well, my boss routinely tells me about his bumps & lumps that have to be burned off. i want to stave off this insidiousness.

 

do you take precautions in this regard? if so, what?

Why not use sun screen when it's too warm for gloves? You'll have to apply frequently, but it works.

[genepires]

patagonia (as well as others) have white poly glove liners which work pretty good in warm air/snowy ground conditions. if there is snow on the ground, it usually is good temps for liners. if there is no snow on ground, the sun affect is less and you don't need as much sun pro anyway. When on snowy angled terrain, you need to protect your hands in the case of a need to self arrest. I have seen a few badly scraped knuckles from rubbing in snow during the fall.

 

I heard an interesting arguement against using aloe vera after a bad sun burn. Aloe causes skin cells to multiply. So you got a bad burn with possible dna damage to living skin cells and instead of letting it die, you command it multiply therefore possibly creating the initial skin cancer group. This was told to me by a good doctor. food for thought.

[luwayo]

dru, i'll need to borrow your parasol for next week please. my embroiderie englais has gotten tatty from the last bushwhack.

 

i actually haven't been using sunscreen over my hands; just wearing gloves in summer. however, the loose & course weave doesn't inspire total confidence. i don't really know what to make of the conflicting reports on the efficacy of sunscreen, but i continue to use it for at least 6 mos of the year. it's kind of a compromise between the direct sun damage, and whatever compound it is that's supposed to protect us but where contraversial reports say it may be doing the opposite.

 

the aloe arguement is interesting.

 

acknolwedged on the vit.e & minerals doc. layton, and mondo carot consumption, etc.

 

i will check out patagonia. and i will brace myself for some mail order shopping.

 

please pipe up if you think of anything more, especially on the brand names of gloves that have worked for you.

[jhamaker]

Sunscreen (Bannan Boat does not burn eyes)

Zinc Oxide

 

Fairweather ; )

[spicoli11]

-sunblock 1st

-"white" nitrile palm gardening glove(not great in cold if soaked)...they are like 5$

[luwayo]

i used zinc oxide once, in 2001. i think i'm still wearing some of it.

 

for mt. badweather, 1mo of zinc oxide is going to require some good skin care & hi end product treatment! (no doubt this turn on the most delicate of mtnr'g issues threatens to alienate the burliest of you lot!)

[G-spotter]

Climb at night, sleep in day.

[Alpinfox]

I heard an interesting arguement against using aloe vera after a bad sun burn. Aloe causes skin cells to multiply. So you got a bad burn with possible dna damage to living skin cells and instead of letting it die, you command it multiply therefore possibly creating the initial skin cancer group. This was told to me by a good doctor. food for thought.

 

I had not heard anything about this, so I'm doing some research on it. Interesting findings so far:

 

 

 

 

 

Aloe inhibits growth of Merkel cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer) cells in vitro

 

Aloe results in keratinocyte proliferation in a dose-dependent manner

 

The following quote is from HERE.

Some studies have indicated that aloe vera may have anticancer effects. Emodin, an extract of aloe vera, can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in human liver cancer cell lines through p53- and p21-dependent pathway (11). Acemannan, a carbohydrate fraction derived from aloe vera leaf, can stimulate cytokine production in mouse macrophage cell line (17). This component also has immunomodulating activities by inducing maturation of dendritic cells (13). Another in vitro study has indicated aloeride, a polysaccharide obtained from aloe vera juice, as a potent immunostimulator by increasing NF-kappa B activities (14). A compound, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), isolated from aloe vera can inhibit leukemic cells in vitro (16)

[genepires]

that sounds more convincing than my anti aloe arguement. not understanding a single sentence is a key to a solid arguement, someone is doing serious research. glad to hear that there is some good research out there.

not being a jackass here.

[blondontherocks]

Many sun screens for the face work well for the hands without being greasy. It will help with pigmentation changes from the sun, but the location of skin cancer is not necessarily in the areas exposed to the sun. You can also acquire it on places that have never seen the sun. Malignant melanoma is only a small portion of skin cancers. There are lots of pictures of what basal cell carcinoma & squamous cell carcinoma look like on www.dermatlas.com, although they are best checked by a dermatologist.