The sun is slowly killing you, and so are those UV beds you lay on to darken your skin
tone before Prom.
What can you do about it?!
You've probably seen this viral video in all the dark corners of the web this week, showing
what the sun has done to seemingly beautiful skin.
It's shocking, but let's add a little context to this random "scientific" video.
Ultraviolet light damages all human skin, dark, fair, and all the colors in-between;
the reason we even HAVE skin color is an evolutionary response to sunlight damaging human skin.
First, what you're seeing in this video is the reflection of UV light.
Ultraviolet light works the same as any other light.
It's either absorbed or reflected -- darker colors absorb more than lighter.
What the camera is showing us, is where the skin is absorbing or reflecting more UV light.
The dark spots are where the UV light isn't bouncing back at the camera.
UV light is part of the light spectrum, and though it's just outside the visible spectrum
for humans, if aliens were to show up tomorrow, they might see us the way this camera does!
Some of those freckles, blemishes and spots revealed by the camera are pockets there because
the skin is under attack.
When UV light hits the skin it can be reflected by our outermost layer of skin, the stratum
corneum.
It that doesn't catch the radiation, the rays hit the inner layer of skin, the epidermis
where it encounters that melanin packaged within melanosomes.
When skin is exposed to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight, it darkens, or tans.
All skin regardless of color, tans.
More melanin scatters more of the damaging UV rays.
Melanin in the skin is produced by melanocytes located in the epidermis.
And it comes in the form of two pigments the brown eumelanin and a yellow and red phaeomelanin!
Dark-skinned humans produce melanin all the time, while lighter-skinned people produce
it as needed.The melanin is evolution's way of scattering the rays of UV light before
they can harm your DNA, since we no longer have dark body hair to protect us.
If our skin didn't do this, the UV radiation would get through, corrupt our DNA, and cause
cancer before we could reach breeding age.
There were probably human ancestors that didn't tan -- and thus they weren't able to pass
on their genes as efficiently.
Sunburns are radiation burns from overexposure to ultraviolet radiation.
It turns red because your body is trying to heal the damage and sending blood to the area.
The burn isn't going to protect you from anything, neither will a tan, really.
In the end, ALL sun exposure results in UV light impacting your skin.
It is never ending.
If it's cloudy, there's UV.
When it's snowy the UV can reflect off the snow and cause even MORE problems.
When you're in a pool or ocean?
Yep.
UV.
Light-skinned people are most susceptible to skin cancers because they have to make
up for not having the melanin in the first place.
Darker skinned people scatter more of the UV rays naturally, and therefore have significantly
lower incidences of skin cancer, according to the CDC[a].
Obviously, you can use sunscreen, which contains organic and inorganic chemicals to block the
UV rays that cause cancers.
Some of the molecules absorb the rays and release the energy as heat.
However, a new study from the American Chemical Society found an overabundance of sunscreen
in the oceans frequented by beachgoers.
The titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles in the creams and lotions were reacting with
UV rays and creating hydrogen peroxide toxins that kill algae and phytoplankton -- the lifebloods
of ocean ecosystems.
It's a lose-lose.
Though it's better to wear it to protect yourself.
Maybe we should just go to a movie.
In the end, this viral video does NOT show us where people will be getting cancer.
It's revealing bits of our skin's protective layer which absorb or reflect light.
It's stuff we don't normally see, but it's always there.
How does it make you feel to know every moment you spend in sunlight is hurting your body?
Warm up the comments with your own sunshiney opinions and thanks for stopping by DNews.
Enjoy the rest of the summer, and subscribe for more videos seven days a week!