Remember the days of lathering baby oil on our taught, young bodies and sitting out in the sun for hours. As a young teenager growing up in Southern California if you didn’t have a tan somehow you were not living the California dream. A deep tan or a healthy glow reflected youth, vitality and confidence.
How the times have changed. Older and wiser we now know too much sun exposure can lead to premature aging of the skin, wrinkles, loss of elasticity and possibly loss of skin tissue or death due to skin cancer. A tan is actually visual proof of skin damage.
For Caucasian people a tan is your skins natural response to ultraviolet rays from the sun or tanning bed. Your skin cells are responding to the effects of the ultraviolet rays by stimulating cells called melanocytes. The melanocytes release a brown pigment called melanin, which will absorb the radiation. Your tan is the melanin pigment.
When you are exposed to too much ultra violet light you receive sunburn with represents cellular damage. Your body responds to UV radiation over exposure by rushing increased blood flow to the capillary bed of the dermis. The extra blood in the capillaries causes the redness, swelling and pain associated with sunburn.
Sun poisoning is severe sunburn that can become fatal if not treated appropriately. Dehydration is a serious medical concern of sun-poisoned patients.
For darker races, melanin production is continuous so the skin is always pigmented to some degree. Skin cancer incidence is much lower in non-Caucasian races because cells are constantly protected from UV radiation by melanin.
Is a tan protective or dangerous?
A tan does not prevent sun damage it is sun damage. The effects of stimulation of the pigment cells are cumulative. With repeated sun exposure and sunburn the skin becomes more damaged. This will lead to photoaging: the premature aging of the skin due to UV radiation exposure. With repeated exposure the skin loses the ability to repair itself and the damage accumulates. Skin becomes loose, wrinkled, and leathery much earlier with unprotected exposure to sunlight.
Don’t I need Sun exposure to get my Vitamin D?
Yes, but you don’t need much. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends 200 IUs a day up to the age of 50, 400 IUs to age 70 and 600 IUs over 70. It is difficult to translate this into time exposure in the sunlight. The darker the skin the less able it is to absorb UV-B rays. A fair skinned person in direct sunlight at noon needs only a few minutes without sunscreen to get dose of vitamin D. Black skin may require six times the sun exposure to make the same vitamin D levels. If you are concerned that you are not getting enough vitamin D you might want to explore supplements rather than risk skin damage.
Aren’t tanning beds safer?
No. A recent study conducted by the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) concludes that indoor tanning beds almost double the risk of dangerous melanoma skin cancer. People who use indoor tanning equipment are 1.4 times more likely to develop melanoma as those who do not use tanning equipment. Frequent users (50+ hours over 10 years) are 2.5 times more likely than non-tanning bed users to develop melanoma.
How can I protect myself?
Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30. Apply the sunscreen at least 30 minutes before sun exposure and reapply every 2 hours or after swimming or physical exertion. Wear broad brimmed hats and sunglasses that provide 100 percent UV protection. When possible avoid the sun between 10am and 4pm when the sun’ts rays are the strongest.
Love the skin your in. There is no such thing as a safe tan. This is one source of future cancer we can easily avoid. If you need help finding a dermatologists or primary care physician download iTriage® for your iPhone®, Palm®, BlackBerry® or Android™ phone and start searching providers today.