Over two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer before the age of 70 according to Cancer Council, Australia, but if that’s not enough to get Aussies to change their behaviour, then the fact that UV rays account for 80% of skin ageing, including wrinkles, might be!
Check Your Personal UV Exposure Risk and Protect Yourself
SunVisor Co-Founder Lance Cohen can’t remember a time when his mum wasn’t nagging him to put on sunscreen, even with his naturally tanned skin. Now all grown up, he appreciates the nagging, believing it has contributed to the fact that he still gets ID’d – even at the age of 30! This, along with a skin cancer scare from his girlfriend, triggered him to make a decision to do something to prevent cancer. Cohen met co-founder and Harvard-trained physician, Dr Suzanne Miller, at a Sydney Start-up Weekend. Two years in the making, SunVisor is now ready to take the work out of being sun-safe.
The amazing Australian weather and lifestyle mean the population as a whole spends a lot of time outdoors and in the sun, an example of this will be on Tuesday at the Melbourne Cup. The app aims to help users manage their time outside, letting them know when the best times are to be outdoors and when to protect themselves from the harmful sun.
Mr Cohen shares, “You don’t need to know the science about how it works or what is happening, that is the whole point of the app – to make it easy for everyone to stay sun safe.“
SunVisor is available for free download on iOS and Android for anyone within Australia. No additional hardware purchase is required. The smart algorithms behind SunVisor, personalised to a user’s skin type, location, and activity, make it easier to stay sun-safe. The app works out when a user is exposed to the sun and sends real-time reminders when it’s time to seek shade, head indoors, or (re-)apply sunscreen. Utilising smartphone sensors and signals, the Android app is even smart enough to know when a user is indoors or outdoors and track personal sun exposure throughout the day in the background, without any manual input or draining battery.
Cohen goes on to say, “As Australians, we know that skin cancer exists and have seen the ‘There’s nothing healthy about tan’ campaigns, but do we know that it’s not just summer on the beach that is doing us harm? Contrary to popular belief, the sun can still do you damage even in the winter months. We’re hoping the app can help educate users on when it’s safe to be outdoors. “
Website:Â http://www.mhealthdigital.com/sunvisor/
Image Credit: DepositPhotos
