Sunburn an overview

Sunburn is caused by too much exposure to UV rays from the Sun. Usually fair skinned people have the greatest risk to receive too much sun however it can occur to other people with even with darker skin it all depends on the amount of exposure to the Sun and the intensity at that time of day. Usually the worst time of day and highest intensity of UV exposures are between the hours of 12 PM and 4 PM in the afternoon and usually before and after those hours the Sun is not as intense.

When the skin is burned this way it destroys cells on the skin's outer layer. Some times these burns are minor, causing red, tender, sometimes blistered skin that sheds after about a week. Regular overexposure to the sun will cause the ageing of your skin prematurely, causing sagging, wrinkling, wart-like growths, and a leathery appearance. It also can lead to skin cancer. If you would like to learn more about skin cancer click the link listed below..

Some of the most common types of sun damage to the skin are:

• Dry skin due to sun-exposed skin can gradually lose moisture and essential oils, making it appear dry, flaky and prematurely wrinkled, even in younger people.

• Sunburn is the common name for the skin injury that spears immediately after the skin is exposed to UV radiation. Mild case causes only painful reddening of the skin, but more severe cases can produce tiny fluid-filled bumps (vesicles) or larger blisters.

• Actinic keratosis appears as a persistent patch of scaly (peeling) skin that may have a jagged or even sharp surface and that has a pink, yellow, red or brownish tint. At first, an actinic keratosis is the size of a pimple. Rarely, an actinic keratosis may itch or be slightly tender. About one in every 400 patches of actinic keratosis eventually changes into a squamous cell cancer of the skin.

• Long-term changes in the skin's collagen. Symptoms of collagen changes include fine lines, deeper wrinkles, a thickened skin texture and easy bruising on sun-exposed areas, especially the back of the hands and forearms., UV radiation damages the structural collagen that supports the walls of the skin's tiny blood vessels. Particularly in older people, this collagen damage makes blood vessels more fragile and more likely to rupture following a slight impact.

Over a lifetime, repeated episodes of Sunburn from unprotected sun exposure can increase a person's risk of malignant melanoma and other forms of skin cancer. As a rule, if you have fair skin and light eyes, you are at greater risk of sun-related skin damage and skin cancers. This is because your skin contains less of a brown pigment called melanin, which helps to protect the skin from the effects of UV radiation.

To learn more about skin cancer check the link below.

Skin cancer overview

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