Melanoma, also known as Malignant Melanoma, is the most serious type of skin cancer and is very common with 200 thousand to 3 million documented cases in the United States per year. The risk of Melanoma seems to be increasing in people under the age of 40, especially women. In 2015 there are predicted to be 73,870 new cases of Melanoma and 9,940 Melanoma related deaths.
Symptoms of Melanoma are lumps on and darkening of the skin. These lumps are tumors of melanin-forming cells and can appear anywhere on the body. Melanoma is medically treatable with methods such as wide local excision, Moh’s surgery, radiation therapy, and skin grafting and prescriptions such as Interferon alfa-2b by injection, Vemurafenib, and Dabrafenib. When patients are diagnosed with Melanoma doctors also recommend lifestyle changes to reduce UV exposure that can include the use of SPF 30+ sunscreen and the tinting of home and vehicle windows, these lifestyle changes can also be used by non-patients as preventative methods. The tinting of your vehicle’s windows is an especially important method of prevention/management as 74% of all non-invasive Melanoma skin cancer cases are found on the driver’s side of the body, similar percentages are found in the UK and Australia where drivers are on the right side of the vehicle. Five minutes of sun exposure provides the maximum amount of vitamin D your body can absorb and the average American spends 101 minutes on the road each day.
One common misconception about window tinting is that the film is always dark. Although the North Carolina VLT (visible light transmission) limit is 35%, you can always opt for a lighter film such as LLumar AIR 80 which has a very light blue shade and lets through 78% of light while rejecting 43% of heat or 3M Crystalline CR 90 which is totally clear allowing through 86% of light while blocking 34% of heat. These films offer the same 99.9% UVA and UVB ray protection as their darker counterparts without altering the appearance of the vehicle and carry the Skin Cancer Foundation’s seal of recommendation. When driving, these harmful UV rays are entering the vehicle from all the windows. UVA rays account for 90% of the sun’s most damaging rays and are present all day, every day of the year. Because very light films are virtually undetectable it is legal to apply them to the windshield also, effectively sunproofing the entire vehicle.
This Tesla Model S has LLumar Air 80 applied to all its windows.
These samples show the different shades of 3M Crystalline, the rightmost sample is the transparent CR 90.
In the video below a LLumar representative discusses the benefits of window film.
Sources: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/melanoma/basics/definition/con-20026009 , http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/melan.html ,