The Sun: Look Golden Now, but Leathery Later

Whip out those itty bitty bikinis, tanning oils and Ray-Bans because spring break is only a few days away! Now that the sun is out, Ultraviolet (UV) and Ultraviolet B (UVB) rays are pounding at your skin, which causes skin cancer. Skin cancer is the abnormal growth of skin cells that develop on sun-exposed skin, mostly on the top layer of skin. Your top layer alone is made up of three cells: squamous, basal and melanocytes and they’re constantly being shed to form new, healthy cells but UVB rays from both the sun and tanning beds (which causes melanoma, the deadliest of skin cancers) kills skin cells and damages its DNA. The killing of skin cells from UVB rays leads to sunburn which is a risk factor for skin cancer.

We know; golden brown skin, shining and lighter hair may make you feel more attractive but is it worth having leathery, orange skin when you’re only in your 30’s? We’ve all heard (and seen, yuck!) about Patricia Krentcil and how she took her 5 year-old daughter to the tanning salon and is facing charges because she suffers from “tanorexia”. Many students at the U of A visit tanning salons and those are extremely dangerous for their skin, especially because tanning in the sun means they’re waiting for a nice day but if it’s maybe a bit of overcast, students just pay to have UVB rays torture their skin cells countless times in a month, week and even in a day.

UV radiation induces early signs of aging like wrinkled and/or leathery skin and age spots and although they may not show on our skin now, those nasty signs will appear real soon because time doesn’t stop and you can only blame yourself. The Ultraviolet A (UVA) rays penetrate the collagen and elastin in your skin that gives it strength, firmness and elasticity but by killing those cells, you’re harming and predicting the way you’ll look in only a few years from now. Can you imagine graduating from college and because you tanned almost every day during summer and/or visited the tanning salon during the winter, you’re 35 and already have deep wrinkles?

Students that use tanning oils don’t actually need it to tan. The sun will do its job on your skin whether you’re stretched out on a towel for 30 minutes or 2 hours. Let your skin produce melanin, the pigment that gives skin color on its own. Tanning for about an hour maybe twice a week will get that bronze in, you don’t have to bake like a hot potato by the pool all day. Honestly, you’ve got all summer to tan! Let your tan be gradual and healthy. The sun’s rays are blazing the most at 4 p.m. but it feels the hottest between 11 p.m. to 3 p.m. Many students are soaking up the sun during these times for more than an hour and that’s extremely hazardous. The sun is good for us but too much of it will kill us, if not our skin.

So what can you do to prevent yourself from becoming leathery and looking 45 when you’re only 35?

1.     USE, USE, USE SUNSCREEN! SPF 15 or higher will do the trick. Sunscreen doesn’t prevent your skin from tanning per say but it protects it from the harmful effects of UVA and UVB rays.

2.     Seek shade often. DON’T sit out in the sun for an hour and a half, take breaks, give your skin a break by lying under an umbrella for a little.

3.      AVOID tanning beds/indoor tanning. It is the most harmful to your skin therefore; it causes the deadliest type of skin cancer, melanoma.

Have fun in the sun this spring break but don’t put your future in danger just to get that golden brown skin! Think about it, if you catch skin cancer at an early age, you’ll have to hide from the sun for the rest of your life and what kind of life is that? Don’t set yourself up to be on house arrest because you lounged by the pool for too long in your 20’s.