'Binge tanning' is the most dangerous type of sun exposure, according to a skin expert.
A sun awareness event is taking place at UCD highlighting the dangers of occasional, intense sun exposure and sunburn that may occur on summer holidays.
Melanoma skin cancer is disproportionately higher among young people with over 1,200 cases diagnosed in Ireland last year.
David McMahon, CEO of the Irish Skin Foundation says 'It's going out and getting absolutely burned like two or three times and spending the rest of the year all covered up inside or at home under a jumper, it's that opportunistic, dangerous exposure'.
UV photography at the @CharlesUCD sun awareness event shows the sun damage on my skin 😳 #UCDGetSunSmarter @ISFcharity pic.twitter.com/UPOrNPDdXQ
— Kim Buckley (@KiiimBuckley) April 9, 2019
There are also warnings about tanning salons, Professor Desmond Tobin, head of the Charles Institute of Dermatology at UCD, says that there’s a closer link between tanning salon use and melanoma than there is between cigarettes and lung cancer, 'We would never even think of doubting the connection between cigarettes and lung cancer, but still we are tolerating tanning salon use'.
It comes as new figures from the National Cancer Registry show that cancer cases could double by the year 2045 if current trends continue - with skin cancer one of the fastest rising cancers in Ireland.
