Virtuoso Life - March/April 2008 - (Page 138) WELL TRAVELED Solar Flair Designer sunscreens let you hit the beach with confidence. BY ANNA HIRSH PHOTOGRAPHY BY MANNY RODRIGUEZ A rrive in Barbados, add equal parts underground waterfalls, orchid gardens, and white sand beaches with dash of dappled coral cliffs, swirl it all together, and you have one sophisticated island adventure. But forget the proper sunscreen, and sunburn will keep you parked beneath the palm trees sipping ice water for your entire vacation. In addition to the temporary sting and splotchy color, sunburn can have a long-term effect not only on your health but on the texture, look, and feel of your skin. Thankfully for those who love to lounge poolside, an ounce of SPF-spiked prevention goes a long way. According to Dr. John J. DiGiovanna, a dermatologist at the National Cancer Institute and Brown Medical School, your skin actually combats daily environmental damage with a fair amount of self-repair. “Our skin has an immune surveillance system which looks for pre- and early skin cancers and tries to clear them,” he says. “However, additional sun exposure can interfere with this process.” An inconvenient truth for sun worshippers: Skin cancer rates are rising, with an estimated one million new non-melanoma diagnoses last year in the United States alone. Travel to tropical islands increases your risk due to the sun’s angle overhead and less ozone in the atmosphere to absorb Skin deep: When it comes to a youthful glow, it’s what’s on the outside that counts. 138 V I RT U O S O L I F E
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