Rotorua pharmacies are noticing more sunscreen and less after-care selling this summer. Photo / Stephen Parker
Botox and self-tanning treatments are up this summer in Rotorua, but Jersey Shore is not gracing the city.
Instead, people are using botox to fight the heat.
Caci Rotorua senior skin specialist Kerianne Fladkjar said she had seen more rashes on people's foreheads and necks.
"I've never seen it so bad."
Perioral dermatitis, the fungal rashes she noticed, were caused by sweating and heat getting trapped against the skin. The rashes on foreheads were a result of people sweating with hats on.
"It's really good because people are wearing hats, but we're seeing a lot of these rashes."
As well as being used to eliminate wrinkles, botox is used to treat the medical condition hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating.
Botox temporarily stops the message being sent from nerves to sweat glands in the area that has been treated.
Fladkjar said hydration was another important factor in maintaining skin health to avoid early ageing and rashes.
A normal amount of moisture in the skin was 50 per cent, she said, but many of her clients tested between 20 and 23 per cent.
She said it was important to drink enough water but, just as importantly, to eat food with higher water content.
Beauty by Elesha beautician Elesha Bibby said she noticed spray tans had become increasingly popular, and she had done noticeably more this summer.
She said she noticed people were more aware of how sun damage accelerated ageing, particularly over the past five years.
As well as more caution around the sun for both safety and cosmetic reasons, she said self-tanning was suited to a lot of skin types which helped people with sensitive skin.
Unichem Central Mall, previously Life Pharmacy, pharmacist Rachel Birdsall said while they had noticed "quite a few" skin reactions from the heat, it was the self-tan purchases which surprised them.
"The sales this year are well and truly up," she said, as well as sunscreens.
As well as more tan leaving the shelves, Birdsall said there were a lot fewer cases of serious sunburn.
"People are definitely more aware of the sun and are watching out. It's more the tourists that come in for burns."
Lakes Care Pharmacy had not sold more tan than usual, but retail assistant Debbie Ryan said they were selling sunscreen by the "truckload."
"A couple of years ago we sold lots of aftercare, but people are a lot more savvy now and tend to just come in to top up their sunscreen," Ryan said.
Cancer Society chief executive Mike Kernaghan said while it was good to see people buying more sunscreen or moving away from sun tans, "there are still many Kiwis who are not being sunsmart."
"Annually, more New Zealanders die from skin cancer than in road crashes. Yet there is compelling evidence that most skin cancers are preventable."
Preventable skin cancer was mainly caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
The Cancer Society said, unlike heat and light, UV radiation could not be felt or seen, and it was important not to rely on the temperature, or whether the sun was out, to wear protection.
"One key message that we don't think people are picking up is that you can burn on a cloudy day."
NIWA meteorologist Ben Noll said the heat was set to continue for the rest of the week with temperatures reaching the mid 20's.
He said there would be little relief with a chance of "some rain" on Sunday.
