What damage does the sun do to our skin?
Skin is damaged by both UVA and UVB light. UVB rays penetrate the top layers of the skin causing the immediate effect of acute sunburn and the longer term effect of skin cancer by directly damaging the DNA in your skin cells.
UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin layers and causes the relatively immediate effect of sun tanning but also the longer term effect of solar elastosis (altered collagen) which accelerates skin aging and contributes to skin cancer. Importantly UV light causes immunosuppression in the skin which can compound the damaging effects UVA and UVB because it decreases your body’s ability to recognise and repair damaged skin cells.
The fairer your natural skin colour is the more at risk you are of developing skin cancers. This is because fair skin has less melanin but also a different type of melanin which is less protective against the damaging effects of UV light. However, whilst darker skin types are relatively less at risk of developing sun induced skin cancers they are still affected by the sun aging effects of UV light.