Health: Fact vs Fiction - Skin deep

Skin deep
Time to get under your skin. In this episode, Dr Sharon Wong, consultant dermatologist at HCA UK’s London Bridge Hospital helps Anna Richardson understand how to keep the largest organ in our body, not only pampered, but healthy too.
Along the way they’ll be busting myths, including whether SP50 factor sun cream is enough to protect us from skin cancer, if women can be affected by common baldness and why hairs sprout unexpectedly in the strangest places?
Joining them will be TV star Denise Van Outen on her experiences with eczema, what that is and how the common condition can be calmed and smoothed.
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Tanning
Fiction
A sun cream which states 'SPF 50' on the container is enough to protect your skin from cancer.
SPF covers UVB rays but not UVA. So, when you’re shopping for a lotion, Sharon says look not only has an SPF rating but also a UVA rating of either four or five stars. Also, make sure you apply it every couple of hours; more if you go into water.
Acne
Fact
You really shouldn’t squeeze your spots. Sorry, everyone.
Sharon says if you’re trying to pop your spots when they are deep under the skin you could be deepening the level of trauma to your skin and possibly introducing infection.
Anti-ageing
Fact
Applying sunscreen every day will help push back the onset of your skin ageing. The sun is the biggest ageing factor on your skin - even on a cloudy day.
As for other anti-ageing solutions, do they work? Sharon says we should ignore the marketing and look at the ingredients in the cream. Sharon also busts the myths around natural oils, like olive oil, helping your skin - it can actually make some skin conditions worse.
Eczema
Fact
One in five children and one in 12 adults will have eczema.
TV presenter and actress, Denise Van Outen, talks about how she’s lived with the skin condition since being a child and what she believes the triggers are for her. She also talks about how eczema has affected her daughter since she was a baby.
Sharon tells us that moisturising is the key to controlling eczema: a good moisturiser, regularly applied, can reduce the frequency of flare-ups.
Skin cancer
Fact
You need to check your skin for changes every three months.
Sharon advises us to use the A, B, C, D, E method of checking the moles on your skin. Moles don’t need to be accompanied by physical symptoms for them to turn nasty, so don’t forget to check your back and the backs of your legs too.
Hair
Fiction
Common balding only happens to men.
In fact, the most common cause of hair loss for both men and women is genetic. If it’s in your genes, Sharon says female pattern hair loss tends to start happening between the ages of 40 and 50, but can appear as early as the 20s in some women.
Fact
Stress and trauma can make your hair fall out.
Sharon says emotional stress and hormonal fluctuations - for example, pregnancy and menopause - can cause an upset in the growth cycle of our hair follicles. However, it can be normal for a person to shed between 50 and 100 hairs a day.
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