Stay safe while enjoying the sun this spring
To Health With It
Welcome back to MSE and drudgery. I hope everyone's spring break was more entertaining than mine. I spent it shuffling papers at the doctor's office. Although it wasn't Cancun, the upside of my spring break is that I didn't return to Hopkins Sunday evening burnt to a crisp and hung over from a week of drunken revelry.
Regardless, my aloe plant was put to use. Several friends of mine cruised around the Caribbean, using sun block up until the very last day of their travels. They returned home pimento-red, flaky, peeling and demanding the dismembering of my aloe plant for its juices.
Anyone that's ever been sunburnt before knows that it's not a pleasant experience. Sunburns are itchy, painful and dangerous, not to mention icky looking when you start to shed dried skin. But most of the nastiness of sunburns vanishes with time - except the increased risk of skin cancer.
Skin cancer occurs when abnormal skin cells divide uncontrollably. Skin cancer affects over one million Americans annually, and over 85 percent of skin cancers are caused by overexposure to the sun. Just one severe sunburn can increase your chances of skin cancer by up to 50 percent. Ultraviolet (UV) rays in particular are thought to contribute to skin cancer. UV rays are shorter than visible light rays, with UVA rays as the longest and UVC the shortest. UCV rays are absorbed by the ozone layer, but UVA and UVB sizzle on down through our skin and contribute to skin cancer.
UVA rays make up the majority of UV radiation, but are less intense than UVB rays. UVA penetrates deeper into the skin than UVB and damages the skin's connective tissues, weakening the skin's immune system and causing aging and wrinkling by decreasing the skin's elasticity, and causing a tan to form by activating the skin cell's melanin production.
UVB rays, while much less abundant than UVA, are the main cause of the reddening. UVB only penetrates the top layer of the skin, but is the main ray responsible for skin cancer, although it also contributes to skin aging and tanning.
Regardless, my aloe plant was put to use. Several friends of mine cruised around the Caribbean, using sun block up until the very last day of their travels. They returned home pimento-red, flaky, peeling and demanding the dismembering of my aloe plant for its juices.
Anyone that's ever been sunburnt before knows that it's not a pleasant experience. Sunburns are itchy, painful and dangerous, not to mention icky looking when you start to shed dried skin. But most of the nastiness of sunburns vanishes with time - except the increased risk of skin cancer.
Skin cancer occurs when abnormal skin cells divide uncontrollably. Skin cancer affects over one million Americans annually, and over 85 percent of skin cancers are caused by overexposure to the sun. Just one severe sunburn can increase your chances of skin cancer by up to 50 percent. Ultraviolet (UV) rays in particular are thought to contribute to skin cancer. UV rays are shorter than visible light rays, with UVA rays as the longest and UVC the shortest. UCV rays are absorbed by the ozone layer, but UVA and UVB sizzle on down through our skin and contribute to skin cancer.
UVA rays make up the majority of UV radiation, but are less intense than UVB rays. UVA penetrates deeper into the skin than UVB and damages the skin's connective tissues, weakening the skin's immune system and causing aging and wrinkling by decreasing the skin's elasticity, and causing a tan to form by activating the skin cell's melanin production.
UVB rays, while much less abundant than UVA, are the main cause of the reddening. UVB only penetrates the top layer of the skin, but is the main ray responsible for skin cancer, although it also contributes to skin aging and tanning.
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