CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The harmful rays can do some pretty serious damage to your skin and in some instances, prolonged exposure can even lead to cancer.
As a South Texan, residents can't escape the sun and heat we experience year-round. But as Coastal Bend resident Mark Scott came to realize later in life, all the time under the sun can catch up to you.
"Chase, playing baseball, playing football. I mean, we were outside all the time. Never thought about sunscreen," he said.
Decades later, a routine doctor's visit would reveal the effects of all that time spent under the sun's harmful rays.
Mark pointed out several scars on his arms and legs where he's had procedures to remove concerning areas on his skin.
In his 50s, skin cancer would become part of his life.
This week was his 17th procedure.
"I mean, this is the future for me," he said. "We need to deal with it now, before it gets worse. And the general thing is these are slow growing cancers that you have time to deal with. But they are either what they call a scrape and burn, which sounds miserable. And it is, I had one done here, my chest Monday, or it's you know, procedures where they go in and they cut out a chunk of your skin and sew you back up."
He said if you're like him, and spent a lot of time outdoors get checked.
When you think of fun under the sun, most of us think about the beach.
At Surepoint ER on Padre Island Dr. Kim Onufrak said she has treated her fair share of bad sunburns this summer.
"Here on the island we get a lot of severe sunburns especially a lot of the tourist they come down, they are excited they want to get that nice base tan, they come down, they don't wear sun protection or they forget to reapply "
She said beach goers just aren't putting enough sunscreen on.
"Most people are under dosing for adults. It's an ounce so one ounce is actually a shot glass full and I doubt people are putting a shot glass full every two hours," she said.
These days you'll most likely find Mark in the garden or out on the road riding his bike.
He doesn't let the threat of skin cancer keep him from doing what he loves - just with added protection.
"These are my new best friends," he said as he showed several bottles of sunscreen he uses.
"It's not something that you can just go with 50, okay, I'll start doing it and I'll be fine. That damage was done it in your teens and your 20s and your 30s is just it's almost frankly too late."
His message to his younger self.
"if I could go back and tell the younger version of me what I know, now I would have put on sunscreen."
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