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Article: Skin Cancer; Prevention.
- Article from:
- NWHRC Health Center - Skin Cancer
- Article date:
- March 16, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 National Women's Health Resource Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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About 80 percent of all skin cancers could be prevented by protecting yourself from the harmful rays of the sun, especially from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunlight consists of two types of ultraviolet (UV) rays that damage skin-UVA and UVB rays.
UVB rays are the main cause of sunburn and skin cancer. This type of sunlight intensifies during the summer and can do more damage more quickly than UVA rays. The epidermis absorbs most of the intensity of UVB rays. UVB rays cannot pass through glass. UVC rays, another spectrum in sunlight, are also potentially harmful, but the ozone layer blocks them from reaching the earth. UVA and UVB rays are present all year and ...