What are the effects of ultraviolet (UV) exposure?
Exposure to UV rays is linked to a number of harmful health conditions, including the following: • skin cancer Consider the following statistic related to skin cancer: • More than 1 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed in the US each year. • Most skin cancers appear after age 50, but skin damage from the sun begins at an early age. Therefore, protection should start in childhood to prevent skin cancer later in life. • premature aging (photoaging) Sun exposure also causes premature aging of the skin, a condition called photoaging, which is different than chronological aging. • People who sunbathe regularly show photoaging early in life – often before 30 years of age. Chronologically-aged skin, more often, shows changes after age 40 or older. • Freckling, fine wrinkling, and dilation of capillaries are often seen early in the photoaging process. • Photoaged skin often develops irregular pigmentation (liver spots) in later years. • Both photoaging and chronological agin
