My role in the study was to be one of the people that applied sunblock every day before I stepped outdoors, so I had to apply that to my arms and my face and my neck every day. Cherie Burley was part of the group that applied sunscreen daily. Those in the other half of the study, including Christopher Buckman, didn't. Oh, yes, yeah. Twice annually for five years, all the participants were checked for the two most common forms of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
More people suffer from basal cell carcinoma than any other form of skin cancer.
It's rarely fatal, but often causes disfigurement and discomfort. Squamous cell cancer is not as common, but more serious, claiming several hundred lives a year. The most fatal form of skin cancer, melanoma, wasn't part of the study. Because its incidence is much lower, it wasn't statistically feasible. While it's always been assumed that sunscreen provided protection, it had never been tested in a trial of this magnitude until now.