How does tanning cause skin damage?
Tanning causes skin damage by burning the skin; multiple burns then accumulate over time, which causes premature aging and skin cancer. In this video, dermatologist Doris Day, MD, explains why tanning is so dangerous and damaging to our skin.
Transcript
So we know that all forms of ultraviolet radiation are harmful to the skin. And this means from natural sunlight or from tanning beds.
The simple answer to what tanning is in the skin is that it's a burn. When you burn your skin, the melanocytes,
which are the pigment forming cells, wake up and create color to try to protect the DNA of your skin cells from those UVA rays and UVB rays as well.
It's kind of like opening an umbrella when it's raining outside. The problem is that before those melanocytes pick up and cover,
if you're even able to tan at all, is that you do create a burn and damage to the skin.
And over time, that damage accumulates and causes premature aging and skin cancer.
So we know that all forms of ultraviolet radiation are harmful to the skin. And this means from natural sunlight or from tanning beds.
Every exposure from your first exposure is cumulative. So even if you're just going for a walk
or if you're at the beach and you're trying to tan or in a tanning salon, the sun and UV rays don't really care what your intentions are.
If they're reaching your skin, they're causing damage. And that damage accumulates over time and eventually shows in the form of both premature aging, which
is dark spots, broken blood vessels, wrinkles, and in the form of skin cancer.
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