With Spring Break around the corner, the UT Medical Center is hosting a skin cancer awareness project called Skinsolutions. More than one million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in adults, every year.

The event, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, March 4-5, in Rooms 225-226 of the University Center, is free and open to everyone. It will offer skin cancer education and the chance for students to see through age progression software how exposure to UV rays can effect how their skin will look in the future.

The computer program, created in Toronto, takes a picture of your face and detects the areas of your skin that are sensitive to light. It also takes in to consideration ethnic traits to create a side-by-side photo of what you look like today compared with years of harmful UV ray exposure, Georgette Samaras, education coordinator at UT's Cancer Institute, said.

"No one ever thinks that it can happen to them, and then they see this picture and hopefully it will hit a pointNo one ever thinks that it can happen to them, and then they see this picture and hopefully it will hit a point. Georgette Samaras, the Cancer Institute's education coordinator, on skin cancer," she said.

Susan Huntsinger, an oncologist at the UT Medical Center, noted that skin cancer is something we can all get if we don't take care of our skin.

"Studies show that it's not just necessarily getting a sunburn that can put you at risk for developing problems," she said, "but it's a prolonged exposure to the sun that can also potentially cause harm."

Huntsinger said you should try to limit your exposure during the peak hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and always use sunscreen of at least 15 SPF. If you are going to be outside all day, you should reapply your sunscreen every three hours, even if you don't go into the water, she said.

Clinique representatives from West Town Mall will be present to offer mini-makeovers and give information on some of their products that offer UV protection.