What Getting A Tan Really Does To Your Skin

Have you ever spent hours tanning in the sun, hoping to build up a glow but ended up with a painful sunburn instead? If you are nodding in agreement, you are not alone. According to a 2020 survey by the American Academy of Dermatology, most Americans have gotten a sunburn severe enough to interfere with daily life.

Most of us know that sunburns are bad for the skin. Less known is the fact that getting a tan carries similar risks, even if you don't burn. The sun emits ultraviolet (UV) radiation that damages living tissue. Fur, feathers and scales protect the skin of non-human animals against the sun. But as we're thought to have lost most of our body hair in the course of evolution, we are left vulnerable to the sun's harmful effects.

Our ability to get a tan seems to be nature's way of making up for the loss of protective hair, but it's actually damaging. "The skin tries to prevent further injury by producing melanin (the pigment that gives our skin its color) that results in darkening — what we call a tan,' the Skin Cancer Foundation revealed. That's not all that happens to your skin when you tan. Here's a look.

Many people believe that simply avoiding sunburns while tanning will protect them against the sun's harmful effects. But as Madeliene Gainers, Florida-based dermatologist, told Healthline, this belief is mistaken. "A tan in and of itself is evidence of skin damage," she explained. Yes, if you've ever tanned, you may already have skin damage.

To understand this, let's take a closer look at sunlight. Sunlight contains two types of ultraviolet rays: UVA and UVB. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, UVA is much more abundant than UVB, accounting for 95 percent of the sun's UV radiation. UVB mainly penetrates the outer layer of your skin, known as the epidermis, and is the primary cause of sunburns.

UVA, on the other hand, penetrates your skin more deeply, reaching far into the thick middle layer, called the dermis. Because UVA reaches deeper into your skin and is more abundant than UVB, it's the greater risk factor for chronic skin damage. This means you should protect yourself against both UVA and UVB rays as well avoid both sunburns and suntans.

Working on getting a tan can also cause skin pores to become enlarged, especially on your nose and the middle parts of your cheeks and forehead. Pores, regardless of size, are normal structures in your skin, but when they grow bigger, they become noticeable and may present a cosmetic problem.

Several factors can cause an enlargement of your pores, including acne, advanced age, increased secretion of sebum (a yellowish, oily substance produced by glands inside all your skin pores), according to Medical News Today. And, of course, sun exposure can increase pore size.

While it remains unknown how exactly repeated exposure to the harmful radiation of sunlight can result in enlarged pores, it's thought that sun damage to the collagen and elastin in your skin causes your pores to open up, The Healthy explained. Interestingly, a 2018 study published in Skin Research and Technology also found that "enlarged pore counts were related to wrinkle severity." 

Tanning can lead to worsening rosacea, an inflammatory skin disease characterized by facial redness, red bumps, and small visible blood vessels. According to a 2018 review in F1000 Research, rosacea affects more than 16 million people in the United States alone. Rosacea is more common among women ages 30 to 60 and people with fair skin.

Research indicates that sunlight can trigger a rosacea patient's immune response, making the skin more susceptible to bacteria and skin mites, also known as Demodex mites. As creepy as it sounds, pretty much everyone has these mites residing on their skin, but skin affected by rosacea has been found to contain an elevated density of these mites. Still, it's unclear whether mites actually contribute to the condition. 

Either way, you'll want to take extra precautions if you have rosacea, like staying out of the afternoon sun and wearing sunscreen. "Just a few minutes of sunlight on rosacea-prone skin can lead to uncontrollable flushing and redness," the American Academy of Dermatology Association cautioned.

Tanning can trigger an outbreak of cold sores, or oral herpes. Cold sores are typically caused by the herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1), although they can occasionally be caused by herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2), the primary culprit in genital herpes. Because the viral DNA remains permanently in the body, even when the cold sores have healed, people infected with the virus often suffer from recurrent infections, or what is also known colloquially as outbreaks, The Healthy explained.

One of the main triggers of a herpes outbreak is the sun's ultraviolet rays. According to a 2018 review published in Human Herpesvirus Infection, UV radiation triggers an outbreak by impairing the skin's immune system, which otherwise would have been able to keep the viral DNA in a dormant state. The skin on the lips and inside the mouth is particularly vulnerable to infections, because it lacks a top protective layer of dead skin cells. 

As board-certified dermatologist S. Manjula Jegasothy explained to The Healthy, the best way to prevent an outbreak of cold sores as a result of sun exposure is to use lip balms that contain SPF before venturing into the sun, and reapplying hourly.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, accounting for 40 to 50 percent of all diagnosed cancers, and its primary cause is exposure to sunlight. Both UVA and UVB radiation can give rise to skin cancer by causing the DNA in your skin cells to mutate. As noted by Healthline, skin cancer occurs when DNA mutations lead to uncontrolled cell divisions that starve healthy tissue to death.

The three main types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. They are all cancers of the epidermis. Basal cell carcinoma is cancer of the basal cells, small round cells forming the innermost layer of the epidermis. While this is the most prevalent of all skin cancers, it's also the one least likely to be fatal, as it's slow to multiply and rarely spreads. Squamous cell carcinoma, or SCC, is cancer of flat, scale-like cells, called squamous cells. Up to 5 percent of squamous cell carcinomas spread to other parts of the body, which makes it more dangerous than basal cell carcinoma. Finally, melanoma is a cancer of the cells that produce melanin. Though rarer than other skin cancers, it is by far the deadliest type.

The safest way to get a tan is by using a sunless tanning product, such as a self-tanning lotion, cream, or spray. A self-tanner can give your skin that sun-kissed look without exposing it to dangerous ultraviolet rays.

Most sunless tanning products contain the color chemical dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for application to the skin. As noted by the Mayo Clinic, DHA interacts with dead cells in your skin's surface layer, resulting in a darkening of your skin that resembles a sun tan. It doesn't interact with any living cells in your skin, and it doesn't have any of the harmful effects of sunlight or tanning beds.

To get a natural-looking result with a sunless tanning product, you need to apply the product evenly across your skin. If you are having difficulties getting an even skin tone, you may consider making an appointment with a professional tanning salon specializing in spray-on tanning. Whether you apply the product yourself or get a professional spray tan, your tanned look will slowly fade as you shed dead skin cells. Your tan will most likely completely wear off within a few days.