North plastic surgeon highlights where we are going wrong with sunscreen

Farmers and outdoor workers need to be slapping on sunscreen all year round, according to Northland plastic surgeon David Crabb.

"We are living at a latitude that is way beyond our design specs,'' he said.

Cloud cover only filtered out some of the ultraviolet rays, meaning more than 80 per cent was still coming through the clouds and Northlanders were getting a high dose of radiation whenever they were outside.

"Sunscreen is not just needed in summer. It needs to be worn in winter as well,'' he said.

Northland's maritime setting meant cooling winds could make people think it was safe outside because they weren't feeling overheated like they would be in a similar latitude in the Northern Hemisphere.

People who lived in similar latitudes to New Zealand, such as southern Spain or northern Morocco, had developed cultural ways of dealing with hot summers.

"They tend to keep out of the sun when it is hottest and have siestas. In New Zealand, we tend to stay outside more because we don't feel as hot.