WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Study: Kids getting too much sun

New York, New York -- January 23, 2012

A new study shows many children and adolescents aren't protecting themselves from the sun's harmful rays and they could pay the price later in life.

As a child, 43-year old Colleen McDonald spent a lot of time outside and had plenty of sunburns. "We never really thought about sunscreen or anything going to the beach
and as I got older, I went to tanning beds," she said.

Studies show early sun damage can lead to skin cancer -- something McDonald knows all too well now. "I don't even remember how many biopsies -- I've had five melanoma surgeries," she said.

A new study in the journal Pediatrics shows many children may be headed down the same path. The study looked at 360 kids in Massachusetts and found  only 25-percent used sunscreen regularly -- many were also getting too much sun.

"Nearly 50-percent of the teenagers at age 11 reported to have at least one episode of sunburn and that's alarming," said Dr. Steven Wang with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Basking Ridge.

That's because children who sunburn at an early age almost double their risk for melanoma later in life.

We have to do better job to educate the kids, but we also to come up with some innovative way to change behavior," Dr. Wang said.

Melonama is the deadliest skin cancer and one of the most common cancers for
young adults. Doctors say it's important to have a skin exam at least once a year and look
out for lesions that change shape, size or color or become painful, bleed or
itch.

McDonald hopes her story will be a lesson for children to take the sun seriously. "Sunscreen, hats and never go to the tanning bed," she said.

Because you can't undo the damage from the sun.

Ines Ferre - CBS News