The majority of people who use sunscreen do not follow recommendations for frequency of application and reapplication, according to data from a cross-sectional review of 3000 German residents aged 14 to 45 years published in European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

The rational for the study, according to researchers, came from results from international studies which showed a wide disparity of sunscreen use ranging from 6% to 80%. More importantly, they observed that large numbers of sunscreen users in many populations have a low understanding of when and how much sunscreen to use for effective prevention of skin cancer.