Summer is just around the corner and now would be the perfect time for everyone to think about skin health, and in particularly, protecting the skin from damage – primarily from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays emitted by sun and tanning beds, which can both cause premature ageing or skin cancer through over exposure. With that in mind, DestinationSkin launched the first ever Skincare Awareness Week on 11 May, running to the 17^th, which will look to boost awareness of how important it is – for both sexes - to properly take care of the skin. As a fully-registered online pharmacy with a massive range of skincare products such as acne treatments, anti-ageing treatments, and T/Gel shampoo for scalp psoriasis, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy are fully supportive of Skincare Awareness Week, and the pharmacy in particularly has a patient base that includes thousands of women that have sought the medically proven treatment Dianette for acne and other androgen related skin disorders. The previously mentioned psoriasis is a common condition that doesn’t always make the headlines, but actually affects around 3% of the population (up to 1.8 million people). It is a disease that occurs when the immune system generates skin cells too rapidly, causing ‘plaques’ on the skin – a build-up of scaly pink-coloured patches that can appear anywhere on the body, but are more frequently seen on the elbows, knees and hands. Eczema is another chronic skin disease that is often confused for psoriasis and their lesions may be similar if they are chronic, but they usually also appear to be moist and oozing liquid (if the affected skin happens to be infected). Psoriasis treatment is an area that Medical Specialists® that are currently exploring, with a view to expanding the product base to cover this, following a huge demand in requests for medication to ease the symptoms associated with the condition. Both psoriasis and eczema are both believed to run in families, but the exact causes of the two are not fully understood. However, the awareness campaign set to begin next week is beneficial to boost understanding on ways to potentially avoid non-familial skin problems, and clearly needed following a national study conducted by DestinationSkin, which demonstrated a worrying lack of knowledge about skin maintenance and how to prevent premature damage. The study quizzed both genders, in an 18-65 age bracket, and found that over half (55%) claimed to be either aware or very aware of skin care, yet couldn’t explain how they should go about protecting their skin against damage and ageing. Meanwhile, a third mistakenly believed that skin is only afflicted with damage on sunny days. In reality, ultraviolet B (UVB) rays are the main cause of sunburn and are definitely at their most intense during the summer months, ultraviolet A (UVA) rays are present all year long and comprise of up to an estimated 95% of the UV radiation that hits the surface of the Earth. Moreover, UVA rays penetrate glass, meaning both indoor and outdoor protection is vital, and these types of rays are around 30 to 50 times more prevalent. As a third of the respondents believed that skin damage only occur on sunny days, fewer than 20% said they use sun protection factor (SPF) every day, with only 40% bothering to wear an SPF on days when it is actually sunny. Therefore, it is crucial to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, together with one more of the following UVA-protective ingredients: avobenzone, ecamsule, oxybenzone, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide. Another effective method of reducing the risk of skin damage is to apply window film to the windows at home, work and even in the car, blocking nearly 100% of UVA and UVB radiation. Of course, not everybody will be wise enough to use sun cream and applying window film to every surrounding window during the day is not always feasible, therefore a large number of the population will get sunburnt during the summertime when the temperatures increase. Those that do get sunburnt may find that the over-the-counter product Oilatum Gel helps soothes the painful symptoms. Oilatum Gel is an effective treatment of Eczema and other dry skin conditions as the gel prevents excessive loss of moisture and improves skin hydration, reducing roughness, scaling and relieves itching and discomfort. In addition, it is also claimed that inexpensive over-the-counter antihistamine tablets can be taken to help alleviate itching associated with sunburn. Getting too much sun – as well as overusing tanning beds – badly affects the skin and leads to premature skin wrinkling and increased pigmentation, but other factors can be linked to wrinkles including genetics, facial muscle contractions, environmental exposure to heat, wind and dust, and smoking. At Medical Specialists we are committed to offering effective and clinically proven treatments to help improve the quality of your skin, with clinically proven treatments for anti-ageing and wrinkles which patients can obtain after going through an online consultation.