Wearing sunglasses will reduce the amount of rays reaching the eye by filtering as much as 80 percent of the rays, and protect the lids of our eyes as well as the lens. Avoid exposure to UV radiation from sunlamps or tanning parlors. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. It affects over 600,000 individuals annually. Although there are many contributing factors that can result in skin cancer such as heredity, elevation, and arsenic, sunburn and UV rays are still the principal causes.
Hereditary factors play an important role as well.
People of Northern European descent with fair-skin and a family history of skin cancer, are more susceptible. Melanoma is a malignant tumor which originates in the cells called melanocytes. Melanocytes are found in the basal parts of the epidermis and produce the melanin pigment in response to UV radiation which in turn protects the skin from further sunburn damage. One person dies from malignant melanoma every hour. The overall incidence rate for the disease is increasing faster then any other cancer and by the year 2000 an Americans lifetime risk of developing melanoma will be 1 in 75.