Time To Prevent Sunburn

With growing pollution and depleting ozone layer, we are more exposed to ultraviolet radiation. It is a known phenomenon that how much harm these radiation causes. It is considered as the leading cause of skin cancer and the number is growing every day. Now the question is if technology can cause such harms to us, then can technology help to prevent these side effects by keeping us safe from too much sun?

Well, technology has come across a solution by developing a new jewel-like wearable device called JUNE. It can be worn as a bracelet or a brooch. It contains UV sensors that monitor only sun exposure which provides a daily sun forecast with the expected UV index and is paired with a free iOS app too. The index is a measure of the expected risk of UV radiation from the sun that includes a scale measuring from 0 to sun-scorched 15, as well as whether to pack sunscreen, sunglasses or a hat.

To get “sun dose” report from the JUNE app, certain information is filled in like natural eye and hair color, skin tone, and how skin responds to sun without protection. This information allows the JUNE app to produce accurate exposure and its effect on the body. Hence explains the type of sunscreen suitable for a particular body and other information like using sunglasses or hat.

Another competition to this product is Violet, which is also a small, waterproof clip-on tracker, wearable product that offers a real-time UV exposure as well as alerts about potential skin damage. It also promises to calculate daily natural vitamin D production. But JUNE is the first wearable device that blend newer tracking technology with sun protection.

For a pocket friendly solution, try a disposable wristband or sticker which has the ability to change colors to notify time to reapply sunscreen or get out of the sun. The only problem with this band is that it has a sticker backing that holds it on your wrist, but comes out when gets wet or started to sweat.

One can also turn their smartphone into a sun warning system by downloading an app called sunZapp, which was especially developed with funding from the National Cancer Institute. This app available in free version also provides location-based information, hour-by-hour via UV Index forecast, with the user’s personal information in a minute. The app shows the time duration to get sunburned in a particular day and gives precautionary information, such as “wear sunglasses, use sunscreen and cover up.” A timer in the app also counts time for you to reapply sunscreen whether went for hiking or another day at the beach. Just make sure to put more sunscreen on while the app notifies and try not miss it.

SunZapp is one of the several apps that offers sun safety. Some provide simple location-based UV index information such as Block or Nevus that sound an alarm on smartphone when it is time to slather on more sunscreen