Teenagers are no longer determined to get a suntan at whatever cost to the health of their skin, a new survey suggests.
Research by the Teenage Cancer Trust found that 65 per cent of teenagers thought suntans were 'chavvy' and are not representative of the kind of image they want to portray.
However, the findings were not all positive and revealed a lack of suncare awareness.
Nearly a quarter of the 1,000 teenagers who responded to the poll did not realise that tanning oils or swimming does not protect against UV rays, and 21 per cent admitted that they do not think of their skin at all when out in the sun.
Lucy Jackson, the Teenage Cancer Trust's director of communications, said: "The fact that tans are beginning to be deemed unfashionable is great for skin cancer prevention, but we clearly have a lot to do in educating young people about the dangers of the sun."
Professor Rona Mackie, a skin cancer expert at Glasgow University, added: "It's vital that teenagers learn how to behave sensibly in the sun and that they understand it's the damage done to their skin in their early years that can cause skin cancer in later life."
Teenagers are no longer determined to get a suntan at whatever cost to the health of their skin, a new survey suggests.
