In the city, on beaches, at festivals and in amusement parks: free taps with sunscreen are popping up in more and more places. But do these sunburn dispensers help against the 'skin cancer epidemic'? Professor of dermatology Tamar Nijsten answers this question in Nederlands Dagblad.
On average, one in five Dutch people will get a form of skin cancer; the number of diagnoses doubled this decade. "The main cause for this lies in our sun behaviour and ideal of beauty," Tamar Nijsten, professor of dermatology at Erasmus MC, told the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad.
Brown skin as beauty ideal
Since the 1970s, Dutch people have started to travel more often and further. As a result, brown skin became a sign of vitality and prosperity. Basking became an end in itself. "We sit indoors at the office all year and then fly to Seville for a week to maximise exposure of our pale skin to the sun," says Nijsten. "Which is not used to that at all and burns."
Professor Nijsten welcomes the fact that more and more places are offering free sunscreen. "Actually, people should have one of those sunscreen dispensers at home too," he jokes. There is nothing wrong with a little sun, he emphasises. After all, it produces the happiness substance endorphins and vitamin D. "But sunburn and that really nasty tan are to be avoided. It's just like with alcohol: enjoy it in moderation."
The dermatologist feels that this message has reached more and more Dutch people. "The real 'sunbathing', where people smear themselves with oil and wrap themselves in silver foil to get maximum sun exposure, has subsided a bit," he observes. "But still people ask when you come back from holiday not tanned: was it even fun?"
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Read the full article at Nederlands Dagblad (in Dutch).
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