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Debunking Beauty Myths
Chocolate causes breakouts? Crossing your legs causes varicose veins? Ladies, we've got to stop falling for this stuff.
By Jenny Bailly
O, The Oprah Magazine  |  From the April 2006 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
Woman in grass with sunhat on Photo: Hemera/Thinkstock
Lie: Eighty percent of your lifetime sun damage occurs before age 18


"This statistic had become almost a mantra among dermatologists," says Katie Rodan, MD, adjunct assistant professor of dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "But now we're very happy to be proved wrong." A recent study revealed that we actually get only 23 percent of our total UV exposure by age 18. At 40 it reaches about 46 percent; by 59, 74 percent. "No one can say anymore, 'I've already blown it,'" says Rodan. "You can still prevent sun-induced aging by getting serious about sunscreen."
Printed from Oprah.com on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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