For Floridians, May typically means long days spent at the beach or outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather before the heat becomes completely oppressive. However, that beautiful golden tan might not seem so beautiful if you knew what the sun was really doing to your skin.
Sun exposure is actually to blame for most of the changes that we consider to be a normal part of aging. As we get older, UV light damagers the elastin in the skin, causing it to break down and the skin to sag and stretch. Even young adults who enjoy getting bronzed through the summer, are doing serious damage that will last a lifetime.
So how does the sun change my skin exactly?
If you have too much exposure to ultraviolet or UV rays you will likely experience a sunburn. The UV rays penetrate the outer skin layers and pass into the deeper layers, damaging the skin cells.
Over time, exposure to these damaging UV rays causes freckles or larger sun spots, both fine and coarse wrinkles, discolored areas of the skin, and sallowness. It also can cause benign tumors or pre-cancerous and cancerous skin lesions.
Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of all cancers in the U.S. and, unfortunately, the number of cases continues to grow each year.
Help us take a stand against skin cancer this year and take the Mack Center Challenge. Commit to wearing sunscreen for the next 365 days with the rest of the Mack Center staff. Follow us on Facebook to see the posts about how well we’re doing. To learn more about the challenge or to see our selection of sunscreen that are on special this month, check out our May Specials.