WebMD Medical News Brenda Goodman, MA Laura J. Martin, MD July
14, 2011 -- People who say they vigilantly apply sunscreen are
more likely to experience painful, damaging sunburns, a new
study shows. The study, the first to look at how people in the
U.S. shield themselves from the sun and how well those different
strategies work, analyzed information on more than 3,000 white
adults that was collected through the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey. Sunscreen was the most commonly
used kind of protection, grabbing the top spot with 30% of
people saying they regularly apply it when they’re outside for
longer than an hour. The next most common skin-saving strategies
were seeking shade (25% said they frequently stayed under cover
when the sun was blazing), wearing a hat (16%), and donning long
sleeves (6%). People who said they frequently used sunscreen,
however, had 23% greater risk of multiple sunburns in the past
year compared to people who said they seldom used the stuff.
Those who frequently soug