With hotter temperatures sunblock becomes increasingly more important.

Guthrie County Health Services Director Jotham Arber says that to help prevent sunburn, or what could become the start of skin cancer, people should wear sunblock to keep themselves from getting as much ultraviolet (UV) radiation. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio about the strengths of sunblock that people should use, mentioning at least an SPF15 or higher is recommended.

“Really all that those SPF numbers are there for is to show us how much of the UV light that we’re blocking, because we want to make sure that, as that sun’s beaming down on us and we’re getting that vitamin D, which we really want, that we’re not getting all of the ultraviolet radiation into our skins that can cause skin cancer. And so it’s really important to make sure that we’re appropriately applying it too.”

Arber explains that children will need to use higher SPF sunblocks than adults, and if individuals have a history of skin cancer, they should ask for their primary physician’s recommendation on the proper SPF to use.