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MEDcare Minute

How is the Sun Harmful to your Skin?

We all know that the sun can be dangerous. But have you ever wondered why?

Last week on The Minute we dove into important facts about sunscreen. But we want to educate you on why you actually need sunscreen. And it all boils down to how the sun has the power to be very harmful to your skin.

So, what happens when your skin is exposed to the sun unprotected? Well, your body starts soaking up the UV rays which results in what most people call a suntan. The suntan is basically your body defending itself against the UV rays. And when your defensive mechanisms are exhausted, then a toxic reaction occurs which is a sunburn.

When our body is in defensive mode against the sun, it produces melanin which absorbs the UV light and changes our skin tone. So, it’s basically a natural sunscreen. The problem is when you spent too much time out in the time and the UV rays are able to strike you skin causing damage to the DNA in our body’s cells.

This destruction is what causes the cells to die thus causing a sunburn. When you have peeling skin from a sunburn, it is literally you shedding your old layer of dead skin and exposing the new layers of skin.

Your number one defense against sunburns occurring is to stay out of direct sunlight. But we know that’s not always realistic, so make sure you lather on the sunscreen and check out last weeks post for tips to make sure you are using sunscreen effectively!

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