Posted on May 20th, 2009 by Craig Maltby, Editor
Skin is important for immune health. So why did I get stupid and play golf with no suncreen?
Maybe it was because I was playing on a primo course that I’d never tackled before and I was all jacked up about it and forgot to put 
sunscreen on. I knew it would be sunny and in the mid-80s yesterday when I played. But I blew it off. Didn’t even wear a hat. And now I’m beet red. Not really hurting too bad, but still. My daughters, who have porcelain skin–because of genetics and because my wife and I have preached sunscreen since they were toddlers and they have obeyed–gave me a good dose of grief and disgust when I got home. No role model here.
But, as they say, there’s more. Skin is one of the primary immune system defense fronts. Mess with your skin and you’re messing with your body’s ability to defend against entering pathogens. Science is showing skin is more important than ever in immune health.
And sunburn, specifically, can alter the skin’s immune defense abilities. As a National Safety Council summary points out, “scientists believe sunburns can alter the distribution and function of disease-fighting white blood cells in humans for up to 24 hours after exposure to the sun. Repeated overexposure to UV radiation can cause more damage to the body’s immune system. Mild sunburns can directly suppress the immune functions of human skin where the sunburn occurred, even in people with dark skin.”
So stay covered and stay sunscreened this summer. Not only is it not worth the skin-cancer risk, it’s not worth the potential damage to your immune health.
