Oh great, cancer tattoos are on?Instagram.?The photos of deliberately sunburned skin have been trending all over Instagram with the hashtag #sunburnart.
Teens are always looking for a way to be different, so that they can fit in with their friends. This is a heads-up. The Instagram fad is not only dangerous; it can turn ugly ? fast!
Burns Equal Pain
As one who burns after five minutes in the sun, I can attest to how much a bad sunburn hurts ? a lot! Then come the big blisters, which are not real attractive. Even after the burn fades, people can look forward to other dangers.
After a bad sunburn, the chances are good that the skin literally peels right off a person’s body, making all that pain and suffering useless. And stupid.
Skin Cancer Foundation
The Instagram trend is so alarming that the?Skin Cancer Foundation?released this statement:
“Sunburns cause DNA damage to the skin, accelerate skin aging, and increase your lifetime skin cancer risk.”
Personal Injury
DNA damage? No kidding!?!?Glamour?has some wise words of advice about that:
“Use broad-spectrum sunscreen when you’re outside, reapply often, and seek shade when you can.
Sunburns can lead to much personal injury — infection from ruptured blisters, premature aging, and skin cancer ? even among teens!
There are different types of skin cancer, but the worst is?melanoma. Unless it is caught early, this disease is fatal. Yet the number of people with skin cancer under the age of 40 just keeps going up. It only takes five sunburns in your life to double your risk of melanoma.
Too much sun can even lead to cataracts and snow blindness, which is that awful painful or gritty feeling in the eyes.
Warnings apply to those who just tan, too.
Be Smart!
One preventive measure parents can take to avoid this teen craze is to threaten the vinegar treatment. Cider vinegar does soothe the pain and heat from the burn. It also makes a person smell like a walking salad.
Glamour?knows that smart people do not fall for this trend:
“And as for being trendy and chic… what could be cooler than lounging under an umbrella in a sick hat and new bikini? Let’s stick to that plan, shall we?”
It is better than spending all your free time in the dermatologist’s office.
