SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Sunshine feels great and comes with benefits, like boosting vitamin D, but dermatologists warn that sun damage can accumulate over decades and lead to skin cancer.<\/p>\n
As summer approaches, a University Health skin doctor is sharing what people should know about protecting their skin.<\/p>\n
Carlo Guadagno, 70, knows the risks firsthand. He has been diagnosed with skin cancer four times over the last several years. He said that his previous diagnosis is a consequence of years spent in the sun without protection. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can put sunscreen on today and protect yourself. But it\u2019s cumulative \u2014 all your life,\u201c Guadagno said, in part. \u201dAnd when I was young, I would go to the beach without sunscreen every day.”<\/p>\n
For those with fair skin like Guadagno, even what feels like a tan can actually be something more serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a while, your skin tolerates the sun and you tan, and for someone light-skinned like me, it\u2019s not that I\u2019m really tanning, I\u2019m damaging my skin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Picking the right sunscreen doesn\u2019t have to be complicated, according to Dr. Jimena Cervantes of University Health. She says any sunscreen with SPF will do the job \u2014 as long as it\u2019s applied and reapplied consistently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would recommend a minimum of 50, because really, when you apply it onto the skin, you\u2019re really getting maybe like an SPF of 30, but the American Academy of Dermatology recommends a minimum of SPF 30 to be applied onto the skin,\u201d Cervantes said.<\/p>\n
For those with sensitive skin, Cervantes recommends a mineral-based sunscreen. Shoppers should look for zinc oxide in the ingredient list. She also recommends mineral-based formulas for children 6 months and older.<\/p>\n
Cervantes emphasizes that sun protection should be a daily habit, not just a summer one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sun doesn\u2019t take a day off. UV damage is happening all the time when the sun\u2019s out \u2014 and even when it\u2019s hiding behind a cloud,\u201c Cervantes said. \u201dSo every day you really should take precautions of wearing a wide-brimmed hat, an umbrella, and big old sunglasses. I tell my patients that they should be out there looking like divas.”<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Sunshine feels great and comes with benefits, like boosting vitamin D, but dermatologists warn that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2622,584,1006,82,84,83,7801],"class_list":["post-284286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-cancer","tag-health","tag-outdoors","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-university-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}