Impact of Sunscreen on Preventing Each Type of Facial Skin Cancer

Abstract

The most frequent cancer in the US is skin cancer, around 5.4 million cases of Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) are treated every year, while BCC is more common. Exposure to ultraviolet rays is the source of four varieties of skin cancer: BCC, SCC, Melanoma, and Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC). Since there are several experiments done on the influence of sunscreen on skin cancer, this paper aims to offer a comprehensive and symmetric conclusion to existing research. This paper summarizes the current studies finished for each type of skin cancer that might be caused by high levels of UV exposure. This study cites 4 experiments for melanoma, and three of them show a reduction in the rate of melanoma if sun blockers were used. This paper also uses three research for SCC and BCC to analyze the relationship between sun cream application and the probability of having SCC and BCC. None of them found that sunscreen will decrease the rate of SCC and one of them contends that sun lotion can prevent some of SCC. There is no current research about MCC, as the difficulty of holding this kind of experiment. This study will provide a reference for the medical field and the general public to analyze if sun lotion should be employed to prevent skin cancers.