Suntans are caused by melanin. This is a dark pigment found in cells called 'melanocytes' close to the surface of our skin. The UV radiation in sunlight triggers a change in the melanocyte cells, making them produce melanin. It is very important to understand that a suntan is a reaction to your skin being burnt and damaged, the resulting tan is a protection against it happening again, hence the darker the tan the more damage you have caused. This is the reason that today's tanning lotions are so popular. You can have the tan without the sun damage. Beware though a false tan does not protect you from burning.
How your skin tans
Melanocytes deep in the skin produce new melanin granules. These new granules are transferred to the upper cell layers of the skin. Over the next five to seven days, the pigment builds up. This provides a more protective barrier against the sun , the result is darker skin.
Uneven melanin Freckles
If your melanin granules are distributed unevenly, you develop freckles. A freckle is just an unusually high accumulation of melanin in one spot of the skin.
Naturally dark skin
All races have the same amount of melanocyte cells, regardless of skin colour. But in darker skinned individuals, these cells are spread more evenly through the skin, and produce more melanin.
The incidence of skin cancer is much lower in these races because their cells are constantly protected from UV radiation by melanin.
How the suntan became fashionable
It's only in recent times that a permanent suntan has become the symbol of radiant health, jet-set wealth, and fresh-faced beauty. For centuries the suntan was decidedly downmarket - the mark of a manual labourer, toiling in the fields for a pittance.
In Elizabethan England, courtesans would go to ridiculous lengths to preserve their ashen pallor - painting their faces with heavy white make-up made from a deadly cocktail of carbonate hydroxide and lead oxide. In fact, well into the 20th century, the most uncool thing you could possibly do was expose your flesh to the sun. Until a certain French fashion icon went for the burn. Coco Chanel starts the style While cruising aboard an aristocrat's yacht in 1920, Coco Chanel developed a suntan. The floodgates opened.
By the 1940s, women's magazines encouraged sun tanning and pin-up girls like Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth were pictured in bathing suits, showing off their tanned bodies. Coco Chanel made it fashionable to damage your skin! In the 1970s, things had become extreme. Thanks to cheap package holidays to Mediterranean destinations, an entire generation had baked their bodies in the sun. Unfortunately, they were also oblivious to skin cancer which could come back to haunt them 10-30 years later.
The Dangers of Sunshine
Even in relatively sun-free countries like Britain, it can take a little as half an hour to get sunburn. In the long term it might even pose a serious threat to your health.
Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is the major cause of skin cancer. This disease affects around 50,000 Britons annually. Its most dangerous form, 'malignant melanoma', kills more than 2% of them.
Skin cancer makes up half of all new cases of cancer in America and around half of all Australians will develop the disease.
Children are particularly at risk. Babies under 6 months old should be kept out of the sun completely. Their skin can't produce enough melanin to protect them from UV light. Many dermatologists believe there is a link between childhood sunburn and malignant melanoma later in life.
Keep babies covered up
Permanent damage
Each time our skin becomes tanned or burned, damage is done to individual skin cells and DNA.
Some cells die and some repair themselves by getting rid of the damaged DNA. Cells that cannot repair themselves, eventually become defective cancerous cells.
Ultraviolet light contained within sunlight lowers the body's immune system, and makes it difficult to destroy defective cells. These slowly grow to produce a cancerous tumour.
Read the signs
Melanoma begins as a formation of dark-pigmented malignant moles or tumours. These are called 'melanomas'. Melanomas can appear suddenly with no warning or can develop from or around moles.
It is very important to notice any changes in the number and appearance of moles on the body.
Melanomas can occur anywhere on the body but are most frequently found on the upper backs and legs. You should be aware of unusual skin conditions such as:
1. change in size or colour of moles or birthmarks
2. appearance of dark or irregular growths or spots
3. bleeding around current birthmarks
4. the spread of pigment into the surrounding skin
5. itchiness, tenderness or pain in the surrounding area
