This is Ask Okanagan with Phil Johnson, a quick take with trusted local professionals. And in studio today with Dr. Ben Wiese from the Ben Wise Private Skin Cancer Clinic.

Dr. Wiese, it’s January and people are spending a lot of time outdoors. Do they need to be applying sunscreen liberally?

Absolutely, Phil. Yeah, that’s a great question. So, so important. I always say we need to remember that, UV light doesn’t take time off, and winter light can just be as intense as summer light. So we need to remember that there’s no correlation between temperature and UV light intensity. So even in the winter, even if you’re on that ski hill at Big White or one of our beautiful resorts around us, it’s always important to protect your skin.

I always say physical barriers are the best. Sunscreen is an add-on. Clothing is always the best. But any area of your skin that’s not covered with clothing needs to have sunscreen on.

Yes. But I’ve got to toss a “yeah, but” in here. It’s overcast. It’s grey. Do I still need to be putting sunscreen on?

Absolutely. That’s such a great question. I think there’s two big misperceptions about skin protection. The first is that we think that, or people typically would think that cloud actually gives them some protection, which unfortunately is true. Untrue. You know, you definitely still get a lot of UV exposure even on a cloudy day. And then of course, we also need to remember that snow is a great reflector. So this is where you get UV exposure from above, but also from below, where you actually get that reflection of UV light on the chin, the cheeks, and under the eyes. So even if it’s cloudy, you still need to be protected.

So I’m getting a double hit of UV here.

Absolutely, that is so true. And that’s why it’s so important that we need to protect the skin as much as we can. And the other side of that, of course, is that my ears, my neck, you know, if I put a strip of sunscreen down my nose, is that good enough? What about my lips?

Right, exactly. I think it’s really important that the emphasis there is you need to make use of sunscreen generously. So it’s really making sure that you think about covering your skin, not just dabbing it on. It’s crazy to think that if you are using— if you go, let’s say, to the beach, you actually need to use 7 teaspoons of sunscreen or a shot glass of sunscreen to cover your whole body. That’s a lot. And most people are undertreating the area. So you actually need to use way, way, way more sunscreen than what you typically think.

And I guess the other side of that equation is if it’s the beach, I know that I gotta put the sunscreen on, but if it’s in the mountains, I don’t think about what that sunshine is or what the snow is doing to me.

Exactly, and that’s why covering up is always the best way to prevent skin cancer.

Dr. Wiese, how do people contact you? Where do people find you?

Yeah, I would probably say the easiest way is just going to my website, drbenwiese.com, and of course that’s W-I-E-S-E dot com.