Do people with extremely "fair" skin run a higher risk of sun damage due to sunburns or skin cancer?

Question

I'm just wondering, because I'm so white, I can't tan at all, and when I burn, I **burn**--even with adequate sunscreen protection!

So I stay out of the sunlight during the hottest hours of the day, and avoid summers like the plague.

If I have to go out, I wear a long sleeved dress shirt to cover my arms.

Answer 1

Here's my thing: Since the introduction of sunscreen, skincancer has risen by 75%. Either it doesn't work, or the chemicals in the sunscreen itself is causing the skin cancer. Hmmmmmm.

You are doing the right thing by staying out of the hottest part of the day, and wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Yes, due to your extreme lightness, you do run the higher risk of skin cancer. Also remember that sunlight can reflect off of concrete and water, too. But you do need SOME sunlight for the Vitamin D.

Answer 2

The less pigment there is to protect the more likely you can develop problems, but we all need to limit sun exposure. It is painful, and damages your skin, and may cause serious problems. Stay out of the direct sun as much as possible, and use a sunscreen daily. Did you know you can experience sun damage from just riding in a car? Use 40 SPF with a moisturizer.

Answer 3

Some people are born with a high amount of a chemical called, "Melanine" (sp?) in their skin. People with low amount of this chemical are "fair-skinned" or in extreme cases albino.

However, this is the chemical responcible for darker skin after tanning, sunburns, and the black skin of African American people.
(They have very hight amount of this chemical in their skin). As this chemical is dosed with radiation from the sun, it changes color to protect the lower skin levels, nerves, and muscles from damage. Your skin can only take so much radiation before the chemical loses its effectiveness and you develop skin cancer.

There really is no way to permaneatly boost Melanine levels that I know about, but I'm sure there are tanning/sun lotions to aid your skin in combatting the sun.

Answer 4

Well fair skin burns easier however you still absorbing the same amout of UV rays as others. I think there is a greater risk to skin cancer. However, watch out because you can also develop sun allergies etc. from too many sunburns.

tip* Try going to the tanners once or twice before summer hits. You won't burn as bad. ( It took me 19 years of burning to figure that one out)

Answer 5

Very simply, sunburn and UV light can damage your skin, and this damage can lead to skin cancer. There are of course other determining factors, including your heredity and the environment you live in. However, both the total amount of sun received over the years, and overexposure resulting in sunburn can cause skin cancer. Most people receive 80% of their lifetime exposure to the sun by 18 years of age. The message to parents from this is to protect your children.

Tanning is your skin's response to UV light. It is a protective reaction to prevent further injury to your skin from the sun. However, it does not prevent skin cancer.

Remember, skin cancer is very slow to develop. The sunburn you receive this week may take 20 years or more to become skin cancer.

Heredity
If there is a history of skin cancer in your family, you are probably at a higher risk. People with fair skin, with a northern European heritage appear to be most susceptible.

Environment
The level of UV light today is higher than it was 50 or 100 years ago. This is due to a reduction of ozone in the earth's atmosphere (the Ozone Hole). Ozone serves as a filter to screen out and reduce the amount of UV light that we are exposed to. With less atmospheric ozone, a higher level of UV light reaches the earth's surface.

Other influencing factors include elevation, latitude, and cloud cover. Ultra Violet light is stronger as elevation increases. The thinner atmosphere at higher altitudes cannot filter UV as effectively as it can at sea level. The rays of the sun are also strongest near the equator, as you might guess. But even in Antarctica, Chile, and New Zealand, the UV level is much higher than normal especially in the springtime due to the ozone hole in the southern hemisphere.

One factor that actually reduces UV is cloud cover. Climates and micro-climates with regular cloud cover may have a 50% lower level of UV light. The actual amount is affected by the density of the clouds.

Answer 6

Thought I would throw my hat in the ring by saying, the reason they spend so much on cosmetic surgery is the doctors charge way too much, and they wouldn't need cosmetic surgery if society wasn't so judgmental on how people look. We as a society have created this problem along with many others, and when you talk about how much you have given and boast about it, you have just got your reward as Christianity teaches, so no I would not follow in your footsteps, that is sin according to the Bible. On a reality sense I can tell if the rich or well to do helped the poor and needy, we would all just be mediocre, and that's just like communism, something I'm not to crazy about, but wait you didn't say the poor would have to work we would just give it to them and help them out. I think we already do this, its called social assistance and our taxes cover that cost along with producing jobs for social workers. So we are already giving to the poor, we just are not boasting about the good we are doing. Real charity comes from the heart and is not measured by the media and what others think, it is done in secret so you do not humiliate the needy or crown the giver.

Answer 7

skin color is determined by extent of production of a pigment called melanin.more melanin darker the skin color. Melanin production is regulated by heredity as well as exposure to sunlight. Melalin also acts as protective sheet from sunburn and UV and thus people with darker skin are less prone to sunburn and skin cancer.

Answer 8

I was going to rag on yerass for being racist, but, nah...
I always wear sunscreen and long sleeve TShirts. I wish I had done so when I was younger.
Get some of that No-Ad 50 weight sun screen. I use it when I'm out riding.

Answer 9

unfortunatley, yes. I have the same problem as you so dont feel alone. If you are desparate to tan try a tanning salon or that lotion called natural glow daily moisturiser made by jergens. make sure it is designed for fair skin tones. I am no doctor but your skin could just have problems holdin on to color pigments, but i wouldnt worry about it. good luck Candie

Answer 10

Yes. The less melanin (pigmentation) the more you are prone to your skin burning faster which equals to the risk of sunburns and cancer.