UV doesn’t wait around to hurt you “someday.” The second it hits your skin, it welds two DNA letters together into a knot called a CPD. This is the exact damage that drives skin cancer. A burn is just your skin turning red about it. A tan is just your skin turning brown about it. Neither one is a grade on how much damage happened underneath. It happened either way.
So “I don’t burn, I just tan”? Not the flex people think it is.
Now — skin tone DOES change something real, just not what you’d think. It changes WHERE the damage lands.
Darker skin shields the deep layer where cancers start dramatically better, so cancer risk is genuinely much lower — and in Black patients, UV hasn’t been shown to drive skin cancer at all. (The catch: the most common melanoma in darker skin shows up on palms, soles, and under nails — where the sun barely reaches. Bob Marley died of one that started under a toenail. Check those spots.)
But lower risk is not NO damage. Melasma, dark spots, and aging are all still UV, all still worth protecting against. Just for the honest reason.
Bottom line: your reaction isn’t your damage meter.
Save this for the friend who’s “just getting a base tan” before vacation. Send it. They’ll thank you in 20 years.
Sources on the last slide, because we do evidence here, not vibes.
#boardcertifieddermatologist #doctorsofig #spfeveryday #sundamage #skincancerawareness
6 days agodrsinaghadiri
This is such an important distinction! Tanning is still a sign of UV exposure, even without burning. Sun protection matters across all skin tones, not just to prevent burns but also to protect long term skin health.
a month agosagawildflower22
What if you tan from the inside out due to an inflammatory process ? Seems like some of my autoinflammatory process makes me tan.
3 months agosue_sews
the same people loving tans and bashing sunscreen, are the ones desperately looking for "anti-ageing" cosmetics and pills years later
3 months agomarios.el
Yup. Nucleotide excision repair, which is the primary mechanism for repairing UVR- induced DNA damage, depends on the cooperation of multiple different enzymes; XPC, helicases, polymerases etc. It's not an infallible mechanism. It's also not available to mitochondrial DNA. Genome damage in the mitochondrion is only repaired via Base excision repair, which only repairs secondary (ROS induced) UVR damage such as 8-oxo-dG. And we now know that mtDNA mutations can be a primary driver in many types of neoplasias, including skin cancers. People need to stop playing with their health. Just wear the damn sunscreen
3 months agorealjaninalowisz
one of my biggest wishes throughout life until today, was to not have to justify myself for my skin. imagine all the comments throughout life, if I was like that the other way round... but this way round, anyone can ridicule you and everyone nearby laughs.
3 months agoelizabethdidmyfacial
So why do you suspect the states such as Minnesota, Vermont, Utah, and Idaho have the highest skin cancer percentages as opposed to southern states and Florida, California, Hawaii?
3 months agobrianna._.eaves
As someone who enjoys a tan, for now, even I read this as you trying to genuinely inform, not attack, because there is a lot of misinformation and people deserve to make informed decisions
3 months agorrguerra02
This tells me that what you consume and what you wear in addition to the UV is the issue. Not the UV alone. Marijuana plants don’t get anyone high until high heat is added.
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