May 21, 2015 12:28 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

The majority of Americans are not regularly using sunscreen, despite "years of public health messages," Reuters reported.

Researchers  from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that barely one-third of Americans  regularly use sunscreen on both their face and other exposed skin. They also found that sunscreen is most often used by women on the skin of the face, and by people with higher household income.

"Women may be more likely to use sunscreen on the face because of the anti-aging benefits, or because of the many cosmetic products on the market that contain sunscreen," Dawn Holman, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "However, it's important to protect your whole body from the sun, not just your face."

For the study, researchers examined the results of a 2013 survey that asked participants how often they use sunscreen when outside in the sun for more than an hour, Health Day reported.

They found that only 14.3 percent of men and 29.9 percent of women reported that they regularly use sunscreen on both their face and other exposed skin.

According to the study, men were more likely than women to never use sunscreen, with 43.8 percent of men (compared to 27 percent of women) saying they never use sunscreen on their face and 42.1 percent of men (compared to 26.8 percent of women) saying they never use it on other exposed skin.

"The low sunscreen use we observed among men is consistent with other studies that found men may view sunscreen as too feminine, and the low sunscreen use among non-whites may indicate low perceived susceptibility to sun damage and skin cancer," Holman told Reuters.

The study also indicated that sunscreen use is particularly low among those with lower incomes, non-Hispanic blacks and individuals whose skin is less sensitive to the sun.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

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