Dr. Whitney Bowe And Daughter Debunk Skin Care Myths: ‘No Such Thing As A Healthy Tan’ | The View

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:01]May is melanoma awareness month and Dr. Whitney Bo, a board-certified dermatologist, along with her teenage daughter, Mlan, are teaming up to debunk sun safety myths in their new web series, The Burning Truth. Take a look.

[00:00:14]Everything you've been told about the sun isn't the full story.

[00:00:18]>> The sun doesn't play by the rules you'd expect.

[00:00:20]>> We decided to challenge what we've all been told.

[00:00:23]>> Let's spread facts, not fear.

[00:00:24]>> I teamed up with my daughter.

[00:00:26]>> Hi there.

[00:00:26]>> And a few friends. We just made an instant cloud.

[00:00:29]>> I'm Whitney Carson, Chef Eton.

[00:00:32]>> I dispense sunscreen along my finger lengths >> to put the biggest sun myths to the test.

[00:00:36]>> Sunscreen isn't guesswork, it's science.

[00:00:39]>> Here's how tanning became a flex.

[00:00:42]>> And what we found may surprise you.

[00:00:45]>> So, please welcome Dr. Whitney Bow and her daughter Mlan. Thank you so much for having us here. We're so excited to be here.

[00:00:51]>> Thank you guys for being here. Now, I must say it's a full circle moment because when I first started at ABC, you were on the stage with me and you were just 6 years old and here you are with your own docu series. So, I have to ask you this four-part docue series, The Burning Truth. Why did you feel like this was the right time to do this?

[00:01:10]>> Skin cancer is on the rise, but so is the spread of misinformation about the sun and tanning, especially on social media. you know, whether it's Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, the algorithm favors controversy over accuracy. Yeah. So, the myths go viral, right? But then the facts get buried. And Sarah, what was even more concerning for me than the misinformation itself was who it was reaching, who it was influencing, you know, Gen Alpha, Gen Z, young adults, people who don't realize that their behaviors today are going to potentially have consequences that are going to follow them, you know, for the rest of their lives. As a mom and a derm, I couldn't just sit back and watch that happen.

[00:01:46]>> The number one thing you hear from dermatologists when it comes to your skin is, "Oh, I don't mean what you're doing now. It's what you did when you were young." Which to me is the importance of hitting the young people as well. But there's so much misinformation out there when it comes to protecting ourselves from the sun.

[00:02:02]What is what is one of the biggest myths people believe >> that you can get a healthy tan? There is no such thing as a healthy tan. A tan is actually a sign of DNA damage and cellular injury. meaning that you're not only at increased risk for skin cancer, but simply getting a tan also puts you at risk for accelerated aging, meaning you look older faster.

[00:02:21]>> Yeah. And that's hard to say because when people look and they see any brown, they're like, "Oh, I didn't get burned, but you're still damaged."

[00:02:27]>> Right. Exactly.

[00:02:28]>> Wow. Now, uh, sun safety may not be the coolest topic for young kids, but MLAN, how do you make this topic something that teens can digest and understand?

[00:02:38]>> First of all, no boring lectures. Teen's used to scrolling on social media. So, if they come across something that isn't immediately interesting, they're probably just going to skip right over it.

[00:02:46]>> Well, it's got to be short bites.

[00:02:48]>> Yeah. Yeah. That's why through my social media, I make videos like I'm talking to my best friend because teens are much more likely to take advice from their peer than from an adult in a white coat lecturing at them.

[00:02:58]>> Well, then I'd like you to come home with me cuz you could help me with my kids. Uh, but throughout the series, you run experiments and investigations putting trend claims to the test and separating hype from hard evidence. What was the most interesting result you got?

[00:03:11]>> I have my favorite. I'm going to let you go first on this one.

[00:03:14]>> So, my favorite experiment was the DIY sunscreen recipe. So, a DIY sunscreen is when instead of just going out to the store to buy a sunscreen, people are making them from their home in their kitchen from scratch. So, we tested out the two most viral recipes, the coconut oil one and the beef towel one. So, I test out the coconut oil recipe while my mom and Chef Eton, a professional chef with millions of followers, test out the beef towel one. And Sarah, let's just say neither result was pretty.

[00:03:40]>> That is just not something I'd want to whip up in my kitchen. Right.

[00:03:42]>> Exactly. So I think my favorite experiment, Do you know which one it is?

[00:03:46]It's So Steve Spangler is one of the world's leading STEM experts. And so we teamed up with him to put the myth to the test that you don't need sunscreen on a cloudy day because I mean, who wears sunscreen on a cloudy day? Me.

[00:03:58]>> Thank you. I love you. Um, so he actually creates a cloud. It is one of the most visually just cool experiments to show how UV rays penetrate through.

[00:04:06]>> Oh my god, >> I can't even explain it well enough.

[00:04:08]You'd have to tune in and watch that episode.

[00:04:10]>> Oh, now Mlan, you've been making social media content and I've been following you about skinare >> for a while now with your mom. When did you start to take an interest in skincare? When did it stop being h this is just what my mom does to wow, this is really important, >> right? Well, sun protection has been a non-negotiable in our house since day one. since my mom's a dermatologist and I have pale skin and blue eyes. But I started to get more into skincare when I was about 10 or 11, so start of middle school. And I have dry sensitive skin.

[00:04:38]So I stick to a simple routine of just cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen, the essentials.

[00:04:43]>> Well, it's funny you bring up pale skin.

[00:04:45]But the important one of the myths is that people with darker skin, this doesn't apply to them.

[00:04:50]>> So no matter what your skin tone, you still need sunscreen. So first of all, people with darker skin tones can absolutely still get skin cancer, right?

[00:04:57]But darker skin tones are also more prone to something called hyperpigmentation.

[00:05:02]Meaning that sun exposure can actually trigger and worsen dark spots and uneven skin tone. So for all the reasons, no matter what color your skin, it's still good to be wearing sunscreen every day.

[00:05:13]>> Now it's melanoma awareness month and with skin cancer on the rise, as you mentioned earlier, what is the one thing people can do to protect themselves as we head into these summer months?

[00:05:22]>> When I think about melanoma awareness, first of all, I think about two things.

[00:05:24]One is prevention, preventing it in the first place. Yes. And the other is early detection, meaning catching it early.

[00:05:30]So, when it comes to prevention, I always say like just treat sunscreen like it's brushing your teeth. Just make it part of your everyday routine. You can even put your sunscreen tube next to your toothbrush. Just remember like, okay, that's how I want to start my day.

[00:05:41]>> And when it comes to early detection, you want to think about the ABCDE E melanoma. A stands for asymmetry. B stands for border. So, if the border of your mole is irregular, C stands for color, like if there are multiple colors within your mole like black or gray or brown. D stands for a diameter. So, germs used to look for moles that were larger than the size of a pencil eraser, but now they're trying to detect it even earlier on. And then E stands for evolution or change.

[00:06:05]>> I I seriously like she's actually really listening.

[00:06:08]>> You're doing a good job at home.

[00:06:10]>> Nailed that. That was amazing. So, overall with all of this, what do you hope people take away from this series?

[00:06:16]So, with the Burning Truth, we're really looking to just cut through the noise, spread facts, not fear, and empower teens, tween, their parents with the information, the knowledge to protect their skin. And ultimately, our goal is really to save lives.

[00:06:31]>> That's no small feat.

[00:06:32]>> So, thank you to both of you. I'm so proud of you, MLAN, that you're turning your knowledge into action and actually making a change. So, bravo to you.

[00:06:40]>> You're doing a good job, Dr. Bo, with the daughter and the skin. So, we're good.

[00:06:44]A big thank you to Dr. Whitney Bo and her beautiful daughter Mlan. The Birding Truth is streaming now across Dr. Bose's social media channels. Have a great day.