[Use of photoprotective measures in relation to actual exposure to solar rays]

There is evidence that in spite of worldwide campaigns against excessive sun exposure, children as well as adults still spend long periods in the sun. The purpose of this study was to evaluate sun exposure in a group of doctors of different specialties and to compare their knowledge about sun protection methods with regular use of sun protection products.

51 doctors of different specialties, volunteers, mean age 40.78, filled out questionnaires with 21 multiple choice questions about their skin type, sun exposure habits, sun protection habits and questions about meaning of the Sun Protection Factor.

Thirty-three percent of our study participants spent more than two peak ultraviolet hours outdoors every day, and additional 33.33% are sun exposed for longer than 5 hours, regularly. Only 39% of them utilized sunscreens. Majority of sunscreen users utilized less than 100 ml of commercial sunscreen products which is an inadequate amount for full body protection per year. Majority of study participants did not believe that sunscreens could prevent skin cancer, but 57% of them believed that these compounds can slow the process of skin aging. Meaning of the term Sun Protection Factor is not familiar to 84.3% study participants. The two most common reasons for not using sunscreens are time consuming application and high cost.

Results of the presented study confirm our statement that there is bad understanding of a need for sun protection which is in correlation with deficient application of sun protective measures. It should be stressed out that our study participants lack well formed sun protection habits.