A study in the February issue of Pediatrics reports that the number of children who say they “often or always” use sunscreen has decreased in the last three years — a statistic that is being interpreted by the dermatology and sunscreen lobby as evidence that their message is failing.

According to the new study, only 25 percent of children use sunscreen routinely and the number who reported “liking a tan and spending time outside to get a tan” has increased significantly in the past three years.

Dermatology’s failure is that they still don’t understand what’s driving those statistics.

This isn’t anything new. In 2005, The Sun Safety Alliance — a coalition representing the pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of consumer sunscreen products — reported this fall that overall sunscreen usage slipped from 72 percent to 60 percent, despite their over-the-top efforts to trumpet the importance of using sunscreen daily year-round. At the time, Dermatology Times quoted several prominent dermatologists who expressed utter confusion over this statistic.

“This simple prevention message appears to have fallen on deaf ears.” — American Academy of Dermatology spokesperson Dr. James Spencer.

“Despite everything we’re doing, we’re losing ground.” — Dr. Darrell Rigel, American Academy of Dermatology derma-lobbyist.

“There’s almost a militant disregard for our advice. The militancy on both the kids’ and parents’ parts is absolutely shocking.” – Dr. Joel Schlessinger, Omaha dermatologist and plastic surgeon. “We also see the writing on the wall when we see a child who is a lifeguard during the summer, with parents who just roll their eyes when we say, ‘This is going to harm them in the future.’ The message needs to be sent out loud and clear that this is the equivalent of letting one’s child smoke at a young age.”

More telling than any survey’s conclusion that fewer people are using sunscreen 365/24 is the derma-lobbyists’ reaction to the news. What all of these statements have in common is a myopic lack of understanding of what anyone in the tanning industry knows is happening in the real world and perhaps something even more startling: Are derma-lobbyists starting to believe their own “tanning is like smoking” overstatements?

While derma-lobbyists like Spencer, Rigel and Schlessinger steam with passionate incredulity over news reports about the benefits of sunlight-generated vitamin D, what it all boils down to is that they just don’t get it: They are part of the problem. Consider, the indoor tanning industry’s numbers suggest that we are doing a better job than ever at teaching proper outdoor sunscreen usage — more and more tanners who tan in professional salons are getting the message about how to use sunscreen correctly outdoors. And we know that indoor tanners sunburn less often outdoors than non-tanners.

Sunscreen is a product like cough syrup — you use it only when you need it. Cough syrup is used when you are suppressing a cold, but daily use would be silly. Likewise, sunscreen should only be used when sunburn is possible. Over-use is just as silly. And kids and parents today know that.

So while the tanning community is getting the people we reach to use sunscreen outdoors the right way, could the problem be that derma-lobbyists have overstated their case to the non-tanning public — asking them to wear sunscreen 365 days a year — and that the non-tanning public is tired of hearing an over-blown message that the sun is as dangerous as cigarettes?

The public reaction is a backlash to an overstated message. That should be the default explanation — the first and most reasonable objective conclusion. But it’s not one that derma-lobbyists are considering or are even discussing as a possibility. Instead, they are talking about doubling their efforts — yelling even louder. They will continue to tell the public that there aren’t benefits to being in the sun and that they should be getting their vitamin D from pharmaceutical products.

Bottom line: If you want more people to use sunscreens, tell them the whole truth about what they are blocking and when they should block it. Overstate the truth and you lose your credibility with your audience. That’s why we think the derms are losing.