One of the findings reported by the lead investigator, Dr Philippe Autier, MD, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, was that incidence of sunburn was not associated with nevus count. In fact, the highest risk associated with sun screen use was among children who had never experienced sunburn. After adjusting for sun exposure and host characteristics such as skin phototype and eye color, the relative risk for high nevus count on the trunk was 1.68 for the highest level of sunscreen use, and O.59 for the highest level of wearing of clothes while in the sun. The SPF had no effect on nevus counts in spite of a high median value of 17.4. If they have not had that long exposure, the risk falls to 1.8.
Many parents get things the wrong way round.
They think that if they put sunscreen on the child, there is no need to take any other precaution. This is just not so. Parents who are going on vacation should be warned that the correct approach is to use all the modalities, including making sure their children wear some clothing, and keeping them in the shade when the sun is high in the sky.