The Minnesota Twins home opener is finally here. In a few hours, fans will gather for another year of outdoor baseball and cheer on their team in the presence of sunshine and fresh air. Before heading off to the game, keep in mind these sun safety tips for outdoor sporting from Dermatologist Dr. Jaime Davis.

Dermatologists agree that style is just as important as long lasting UPF 50 coverage when it comes to choosing sun protective clothing. This was a frequent comment at this year’s American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. Dermatologists often recommend sun protective clothing to patients with sun sensitive conditions, such as skin cancer, but claim patients more often comply when sun protective clothing looks like normal clothing that’s “in-style”. After hearing numerous comments from dermatologists at the AAD Annual Meeting last weekend, Coolibar sun protective clothing has great news for those looking for “stylish” sun protective clothing.

“Tanning is beneficial to your health,” claims tanning salon owners and employees when the House Committee on Energy and Commerce undercover investigators called 300 tanning salons nationwide. This false claim may not fool many sun protection advocates, but the rest of the U.S. population could be easily led to believe that tanning is good for you.

Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world. For decades they have been taking measures to reduce the number of skin cancers by encouraging the use of sun protection through public health campaigns. Now, Australia is taking their sun safety efforts to the next level. In February, New South Whales (NSW), the most heavily populated state is Australia, declared they will prohibit the use of commercial tanning beds, regardless of age, by 2015.

We often say “be SunAWARE” at Coolibar, but we’ve never taken the time to explain its place within our company and why we use it. SunAWARE is a non-profit sun education organization that provides the most up-to-date sun protection tips and skin cancer news. It’s also an acronym that helps people prevent and detect skin cancers. At Coolibar, we have adopted SunAWARE as our official educational message as it’s easy to remember and easy to follow.

In Tanzania, the sun is unrelenting and people have little escape from it. There are also very high rates of skin cancer among Africans, especially for those who suffer with albinism (albinism is a defect of melanin production that results in little or no pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes and makes skin ultra sensitive to the sun). After Coolibar employee Ben heard about the need for sun protection at a medical and cancer treatment center in Tanzania, Ben returned to work with a mission to help find sun protection relief for patients.

At Coolibar, we like to keep in close touch with the physicians and nurses who help educate those dealing with a number of skin conditions that cause sun sensitivity. That’s why each year we attend the two principal conferences for dermatologists and dermatology nurses, and this year is no exception.

While you may already have a personal goal in mind to accomplish in 2012, have you thought about creating a New Year’s Resolution that can have a profound impact on others as well? You, just one person, can help lower the rate people are being diagnosed with melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, and save lives. This year, consider giving back by getting involved in a race for the cure, fundraise for melanoma research, or hold an event to help educate others about skin cancer and prevention. Our friends at Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) have some suggestions to help you get started.

Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, isn’t going away. In fact, The National Cancer Institute previously estimated in 2011 that 70,230 people would be diagnosed with melanoma and 8,790 would die of melanoma of the skin. While two major melanoma treatment advancements have made headlines over the past year, it’s even more important to remember that the best way to fight this disease is prevention.

Some stories are so powerful they need to be retold. This blog was written by Dr. Jessica Sparks Lilley, a pediatrician who learned the hard way that the risks of getting melanoma from using a tanning bed are real! Please do not use tanning beds. Please do not allow your children to use tanning beds. Help pass legislation to ban the use of tanning beds by minors.