Women’s Dermatologic Journal Club met in my home last night. With food catered in from Mi Cocina compliments of Colorescience, it was a festive affair. Approximately 20 dermatologists gathered together to greet, discuss, eat tacos, drink margaritas and Arnold Palmers, and talk clinical dermatology. We were honored to have Mary Fisher, CEO of Colorescience, talk to us about the sunscreen and sun protection campaign this amazing company is doing in conjunction with the Women’s Dermatologic Society.
Sunstoppable is grass-roots effort to educate elementary school-aged children on the importance of protection their skin from the sun in order to prevent future skin cancers, including the deadly melanoma variant but also the basal and squamous cell variants. As Mary so aptly gave the analogy “If we drove past a school playground and saw 2nd and 3rd grade students drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes, we would hopefully pull over so quickly and look for the first police officer or Child Protection Service agent. However, see children who have no sunscreen or sun protection playing out in the direct sunlight in playgrounds that have no shade or tree cover. This is not acceptable. We are talking about children’s futures and how we can teach them to be as healthy as they can be. In order to have that conversation and make much-needed social change, we have to address sun protection.”
The Sunstoppable campaign educates children about sunscreen and sun protection, and then takes it one step further and gives each child a Colorescience Sunforgettable Sunscreen Brush with SPF50 as it includes zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Additionally, Colorescience and Women’s Dermatologic Society are joining together to plant trees in order to provide added shelter and protection to these play areas.
As we near the first of May, we will celebrate Skin Cancer Awareness Month with better education on skin examinations by a dermatologist or dermatology provider, the proper use of sunscreens (applied daily and then reapplied 3-4 times per day), as well as provide two free skin cancer screenings in both our Cleburne and our Irving locations on May 21st and May 22nd, respectively. If you haven’t yet received your annual skin check, consider doing it during Skin Cancer Awareness Month.