It’s time for everyone to think about skin protection, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Women and non-Hispanic Black persons were more likely to experience sunburns when taking the blood pressure medicine hydrochlorothiazide than other groups, research by Anna Chien and colleagues at Johns Hopkins has shown. Chien says protecting one’s skin requires a number of strategies.

Chien: These days we’re really emphasizing a multimodal approach to sun protection because sunscreen itself, it’s not perfect. It’s using multiple methods, sunscreen, it’s picking something broad spectrum, at least SPF of thirty, and the key and the challenge is always reapplying every few hours with exposure. That coupled with seeking out shade, avoiding that peak sun from 10 to 2, insuring you have hats, sunglasses, sun protective clothing, with UPF labels, those would all be helpful.     :28

Chien says both reducing one’s risk for skin cancer by avoiding sunburn and managing high blood pressure are important, so she urges using all of these skin protective measures. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.