It is summer, the weather is pleasant and the temptation is excellent during the holidays to spend the day outside, whether it is on the beach, in the pool or in the mountains. But for the youngest, caution is in order. Because as with the screens, specialists agree on this recommendation: without sun exposure before 3 years.
“Until 3 years, you should not exhibit children in the sun,” insists for BFMTV.com the dermatologist and venerologist Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti. “And after 3 years until puberty, it is with a lot of moderation and especially with protections.”
Because children are much more sensitive to the sun, which emits light, heat but especially ultraviolet rays (UV). If the atmosphere of the Earth is filtered by UVC, the most harmful, they are completely filtered through the atmosphere of the Earth and does not reach the surface, this is not the case of grapes and UVB, as the World Health Organization (WHO) recalls.
The last two are responsible for the aging of the skin, can cause burns and cause skin cancers, melanomas, the most dangerous long -term with a strong propensity to make metastasis and carcinomas. Who says it: UV rays cause more than 80% skin cancer worldwide.
“A sunburn in a child is much more serious than in an adult,” said Virginie Prod’homme, an insertm researcher, a cancer risk specialist.
“Children burn more and more.”
“You can end cancer in adulthood”
To understand why the children’s skin is more sensitive to ultraviolet rays, a short scientific explanation is essential. The skin consists of keratinocytes: the dermis cells, the surface layer. With UV, keratinocytes multiply, which makes the skin thicker and less permeable to radiation.
UV also stimulate melanocyte production: these are skin cells responsible for pigmentation. Melanocytes secrete melanin, is the principle of tan, a barrier that absorbs and protects the skin of radiation.
But as public health points out, France, tan is not good for health. “The tan is a skin protection reaction against the damage caused by ultraviolet rays (…). The tanned skin indicates that skin cells are damaged.”
“However, children secrete very little melanin,” warns Virginie Prod’homme. “Then they have a zero filter, nor for thicker skin thanks to the keratinocytes, nor for the melanocytes.”
It should also be taken into account that UV create stress for skin cells, which causes DNA mutations. “All these changes will accumulate during life,” explains Virginie Prod’homme, research manager of the Mediterranean Molecular Medicine of the University of Côte-D’Azur. “You can end skin cancer in adulthood.”
“The accumulation of changes in very young DNA, from the first years of life, is to multiply the risks.”
WHO also alerts the subject: “Excessive sun exposure in children and adolescents contributes to the appearance of skin cancer in adulthood.”
Limited solar capital
Because the potential for resistance to the sun, which varies from one individual to another, in particular according to complexion, is acquired from birth. This is called Sun Capital, a capital that is not renewed. “From the moment an adult is no longer bronze is that its solar capital is reached,” continues the researcher Virginie Prod’homme.
“A child exposed to the sun from a young age begins to hire his solar capital.”
In addition to sun exposure, UV intensity must also be taken into account. In Continental France, solar influence is the strongest between the months of May and August. Especially during the previous two hours and follow the South Solar. Or around 14 hours, the period during which the sun’s rays hit the ground more directly. On the other hand, at the beginning of the morning or at the end of the afternoon, these rays are more absorbed by the atmosphere.
Also be careful in the case of a stay in the mountains: the more altitude increases, the less atmosphere to absorb UV radiation. It is commonly accepted that every 1,000 meters of elevation, the UV intensity increases by 10%.
In addition, you must be careful with the clouds. “A veiled sky does not exempt protection,” maintains Virginie Prod’homme. Because a veiled sky does not prevent UV rays from crossing. Light or fine clouds can even strengthen the intensity of UV rays.
And imagine that children are protected in the shade, outdoors, it is a mistake. On a day when the intensity of the UV is high, even while it remains in the shade, for example, between two buildings, it is possible, especially for children with solar burns, more sensitive to solar burns.
Covering clothes, hat and sunglasses
Because many surfaces reflect UV. If the grass, soil or water reflect less than 10% of UV, the sand reflects 15% and the foam of the sea of 25%. It is even worse with snow that doubles exposure to UV. Therefore, the shadow of a parasol seems very insufficient.
“In the hottest hours (from noon to 4 pm, note), it must favor the shadow under a hard roof for children,” he urges Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti, also a member of the National Union of Dermatologists-Vericists.
For this doctor, the loose and covered clothes, the wide sides hat to protect the neck and sunglasses are essential, especially for the little ones and even if they are in the shade, with sunscreen in the non -covered body parts.
Because for the eyes, the lens, transparent during childhood and adolescence, do not play their role as a natural barrier against UV rays, warns the first 1000 days. “For the eyes, serious injuries can appear in the short term such as an ophthalmia (a ‘solar burns’ of the eye), or long term, such as cataracts or degeneration of the retina.”
Health insurance advocates the glasses that have marks (a standard that requires 400 UV lenses that filter 100% UV) and advises to verify the protection categories (category 0 does not protect UV Solar, categories 1 and 2 adapt to attenuated and medium solar luminosities, only categories 3 or 4 are adapted to high lights in the sea or in the mountains). Keep in mind that, because well -treated transparent lenses can filter 100% of UV glasses and dark glasses do not protect.
“The sunscreen does not replace the anti-UV shirt”
As for the sunscreen, no less than an FPS (sun protection factor) 50 that contains protection against UVA and B rays, the cream will apply twenty minutes before the exposure, renew every two hours and after each swimming, it recommends to Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti. The Ministry of Health insists: the application of sunscreen is no longer exposed to the sun.
But the dermatologist and venerologist remember that sunscreen only remains “ineffective protection at midday in full sun.” Its protection is also calculated for 2 mg of cream per cm2 of leather. “It is the equivalent of a golf ball for each application and a cream tube per day. In practice, we are far from it.”
“The sunscreen does not replace the anti-UV shirt,” also persists for researcher Virginie Prod’homme.
The number of leather cancers tripled between 1990 and 2023, according to public health data. Every year, 141,200 and 243,500 cases of these cancers are diagnosed. Some people from 1975 died in 2018.
“However, it is easy to protect,” he still implies Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti. “It is enough to adopt good gestures from an early age and keep them a lifetime.”
Source: BFM TV
