Sun and Skin, Essay Example

Our relationship to the sun is a conflicted one. It plays a starring role in Western culture, and many of us can be considered sun worshipers. Yet clouds of fact have long darkened our religion. We know that even while a little sun will heal and keep us, a little more can kill us.

Not only is there no such a thing as a healthy tan, but that sunburn you got as a child is still very much with you, and may be there at the end as well.

Like a lot of things in the modern world, concern with the sun apparently began with the ancient Egyptians. They happened to put a greater store on lighter skin than darker skin, probably because their climate made lighter skin harder to achieve and maintain. The best way was (and is) to just stay out of the sun. But only royals, particularly royal women and their handmaidens and slaves, could do that with any assurance. Thus, lighter skin became a class indicator. Of course, sun-shielded skin was also healthier (up to a point — Vitamin D is activated by exposure of skin to the sun, and regular exposure may help regulate sleep in some people). Those same Egyptians developed potions for blocking the sun when they couldn’t avoid it, and for healing its damaging aftereffects. Today we use some of the same ingredients they did.

Untanned skin held pride of place in other times and locales as well, such as during the founding years of Australia. However, by the early 20^th Century, that cultural preference began to change. With so many of the working classes stuck indoors in factories, a tan became a talisman of leisure: you had the time and the money to spend your days playing in the sun. And that is where the trouble began: entrepreneurs began to realize they could sell the sun as essential for health (as it sometimes is, as in the case of rickets, caused by Vitamin D deficiency). The sun was also discovered to be a cure for skin diseases, such as tuberculosis of the skin (scientifically known as lupus vulgaris). But a little goes a long way when it comes to the sun’s health benefits: about 5 – 15 minutes a day for the unprotected light-skinned. Darker skinned people will need six times as much (Lavelle, 2006). Only within those limits is unprotected sun exposure healthy.

After World War II, Americans in particular had increasing leisure-time and money to spend. They took to the waters and mountains in greater numbers as swimmers, surfers, boaters, skiers, and hikers. A market sprang up in lotions that would prevent burns but permit tanning. Products with names like Coppertone became ubiquitous because tans were thought attractive. But by the 1970s that too began to change, and dermatologists and their patients began to demand lotions that would specifically lower the chances of skin damage and skin cancer. It became accepted (by many if not all) that this could be done only at the cost of eliminating tans as well. Many brands, such as Banana Boat, carry a full range of sunshine protection, from sun blocks (which reflect sunlight like a chemical mirror) to sunscreens (which absorb sunlight) to tanning oils (which permit more sunlight through) and boast endorsements from dermatologists.

With the gradual improvement of sun-awareness, new terms began to enter the public domain of discussion about the sun: ultraviolet (UV) light, UVA, UVB, UV Index, sunscreen, sun block, melanoma, and, paradoxically, tanning salon — the latter showing that even as more people became aware of the sun’s dangers, many of those same people sought to make its dangers more convenient, and to pay well for the privilege. The cultural conflict about the sun is alive and well. And skin cancers are epidemic among youth caught in that conflict (URMC).

We can expect chemical screens to be increasingly incorporated into conventional skin creams. (It is the goal of  Dennis Paphitis, the founder of the beauty-product firm Aesop, to develop an edible sunscreen.) Chemical applications usually take at least thirty minutes to become fully effective and need regular reapplication. And as alluded to above, a childhood sunburn can stay with you for life, so parents, guardians, and teachers must be especially careful of their charges. Generally speaking, the precautions that govern adults apply to children as well, however they must be enforced more strictly and generously. Apply more lotion, apply it earlier before exposure, apply it more often. Keep their hats and shirts on unless they are in the water.

There is not quite a direct correlation between sun exposure and skin cancer. This means that although people with comparatively little lifetime exposure to the sun may get a skin cancer, and someone with a lot of exposure may not, the statistical link is now indisputable and the mechanism is known. Contrary to earlier theories that heat alone damaged the skin and caused cancer, it is not mere sunlight or its heat. It is the ultraviolet radiation within the sunlight. Ultraviolet is categorized broadly three ways: near ultraviolet, far ultraviolet, and extreme ultraviolet. The near is closest to visible light, and the extreme is the furthest from it. Ultraviolet light is invisible to human eyes and lies beyond the blue end of the visible spectrum. Its wavelength is shorter than the others, particularly the red end (with its own invisible rays called infrared). Its short wavelength gives UV its high energy, enabling penetration of some clothes and the skin’s DNA, causing a mutation (Green, Whiteman, Battistutta & Frost, 1996).

There are two forms of ultraviolet light that lotions are designed to be effective against: UVA and UVB. UVA shines with equal intensity all day and over all seasons and penetrates deeper into the skin. The skin darkens in an attempt to prevent further damage. Thus, tanning is a healthy response to an unhealthy situation. Tanning salons primarily emit UVA, their sunlamps shining upwards of twelve times as much as the sun. Not surprisingly, people who use tanning salons are much more susceptible to skin cancer, especially when their first exposure occurs when they are young. The only healthy time to use a sunlamp is under a doctor’s care. (Psoriasis and severe acne are two conditions that can be improved with UV lamps.) UVB’s intensity varies during the day and season, and its rays (unlike UVA), stay closer to the surface and cause sunburn. Exposure to both increase the chances of skin cancer.

The three basic types of skin cancer are: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. The former two are the least dangerous and the most common. One widespread form of skin sun-damage is an actinic (solar) keratosis. It can become a squamous cell cancer if left untreated for too long. Melanoma develops from the skin’s pigment cells that produce melanin. As many as three-quarters of all skin-cancer deaths are caused by melanoma. That said,  darker skinned people are at less risk to sun damage because darker skin contains more melanin, which can then safely absorb more UV (and so increase susceptibility to Vitamin D loss at the same time). However, those with dark skin can and do get sunburn and develop skin cancer. Skin is skin and sun is sun. The variables are intensity and duration.

The natural thing to do to protect oneself from the sun is simply to cover up, and that is the purpose of the creams and oils. But clothing is essential in sun protection. Lotion on your arms and face aren’t enough. Lotion, a long-sleeve shirt, and a hat are recommended. (As anyone  who uses photochromic eyeglasses knows, cloudy days offer no protection from UV rays.) After World War II, when the long trend against men wearing hats accelerated, men began to get more skin cancers on their faces. Today, they are recommended to put their hats back on, or even (as some women do) use an umbrella. Today there are clothes with their own UV-ratings system.

In conclusion, the key to sun safety is intelligent moderation of exposure. That will of course depend on your location and the season — think Seattle versus the Sahara. It also means following rules consistent with that location. Underlying these rules is the fundamental fact that, although the sun’s very real benefits must be renewed daily, its very real risks are cumulative.

The sun, essential for all life on earth, grants human skin a skin-deep margin of error.

References

Lavelle, P. (2006, May 05). The pulse: how much sun do you need?. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2006/04/05/1609208.htm

Green, A., Whiteman, D., Battistutta, D., & Frost, C. (1996). Sun exposure, skin cancers and related skin conditions. Manuscript submitted for publication, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Available from PubMed. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10709345

URMC. (n.d.). Skin cancer reaching epidemic levels. Retrieved from http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/referring-physicians/urmc-connection/summer-2012/facilities-and-programs/skin-cancer.cfm