Summer isn't an entirely carefree season of barbecues, lounging around the pool or beach, and road trips. As more people spend time outdoors to enjoy the pleasant weather, exposure to the sun can be “very harmful.” Dermatologists warn that exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays can cause skin cancer over time, as well as sunburn in the short term.
"Having a sunburn is not fun --- it is very harmful, " Dr. Harvey Lui, a dermatologist and professor of dermatology and skin science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.
Lui likens sunburn to getting scalded by an oven. "It's not comfortable. It actually damages the skin.
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It's not a good idea to burn your skin. That's trauma." Suffering one bad sunburn isn't something to take lightly.
"In fact, if you have one bad sunburn in your life -- even just one bad sunburn – that can actually double your risk of developing skin cancer, melanoma, sometime in the future," Lui said. When the sun's powerful ultraviolet rays reach the skin, it can cause damage to the DNA molecules, setting up the skin to develop abnormal cells and potentially skin cancer, he explained. Tans, for example, indicate skin damage from ultraviolet rays, Lui said.
"The tan is your body's reaction to the exposure to the ultraviolet rays," he said. "It is saying, 'Hey, I don't like all this ultraviolet light that's hitting my skin. So I'm gonna darken my skin to try to filter out some of that ultraviolet l.
