Association between ultraviolet radiation and skin cancer

Protection from ultraviolet (UV) radiation is essential throughout the year, not just only during the summer season or at the beach or pool. The sun's UV radiations can reach you even on hazy and cloudy days. While it has some benefits for you, including the production of Vitamin D that keeps your bones and muscles strong, certain types of UV rays may pose deleterious health risks.

When it comes to skin cancer, one of the primary risk factors is unprotected exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays. Photodamage from UV exposure is cumulative and elevates your skin tumor risk over time. Let us dive a little to explore the relationship between UV rays and skin cancer.



Highlights

  • What are UV radiations and their types?

  • Sources of UV radiations

  • How UV radiation cause skin cancer?

  • Reducing the risk of cancer of skin

1. What are UV radiations and their types?

UV radiations refer to short-wavelength electromagnetic band spectrum that is invisible to the human eye. It has a wavelength longer than x-rays but shorter than visible light. Ultraviolet A (UVA), ultraviolet B (UVB), and ultraviolet C (UVC) are the different types of UV radiations.

2. Sources of UV radiations

Natural source of UV rays: Sun

Artificial sources of UV rays: Tanning beds, welding arcs, mercury vapor lighting, plasma torches, some types of lasers, high-pressure xenon and xenon-mercury arc lamps, black-light lamps, and few halogen, fluorescent, and incandescent lights

3. How UV radiation cause skin cancer?

Most of the UV radiations that reach the surface of the earth are UVA. These rays penetrate deep into the human skin, trigger profound alterations of the dermal connective tissue, and can increase a person’s risk for developing skin cancer. UVA rays can alter skin texture, accelerate skin aging, and can cause some indirect damage to the DNA of skin cells. Failure of the cells to restore this damage may provoke the skin cells to mutate, resulting in skin cancers.

Compared to UVA rays, fewer UVB rays reach the earth’s surface as most of them are absorbed by the ozone layer. UVB rays (aid in vitamin D synthesis) have slightly more energy in comparison with UVA rays. They do not penetrate deep into the skin when compared to UVA radiations. They directly damage the DNA in skin cells and are the major radiations that cause sunburns. They are also known to trigger most skin tumors.

UVC rays have more energy compared to UVA and UVB rays. But, they don’t reach the earth's surface, so they are not usually a risk factor for skin tumors. Excessive exposure to UV rays can trigger the overproduction of melanin in your skin, resulting in skin tanning and sunburn. Prolonged exposure to UV radiations that trigger sunburn has proven to play a significant role in inducing melanoma (the deadliest and the most aggressive form of skin tumor).

Researchers have also found that UV radiations can also modify a gene that inhibits tumors (p53 tumor suppressor gene). This raises the danger of sun-impaired skin cells developing into skin tumors. UV radiation is also a proven cause of other skin cancers like squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma that often appear on the sun-exposed areas of your skin. Some studies have also indicated the possible association of UV rays to Merkel cell carcinoma (a less common type of skin tumor).

Reducing the risk of cancer of skin

The good news is that the threat posed by these harmful rays can be minimized by you! Yes, you can still enjoy outside while restricting your skin tumor risk. Just follow the below simple protective measures.

Your eyes can't see UV, but your skin can feel it! Make sun protection an everyday habit. It will aid you to enjoy the outdoors safely, keep your skin healthy, prevent sunburn, and will also minimize your chances of getting skin cancer in the future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cancer Immunotherapy: Widening horizons of cancer treatment

Image
For years, it has been known that the immune system plays a crucial role in destroying mutated cells and fighting against infections. However, mutated cells may surpass the immune system destruction in some scenarios, leading to tumours and cancerous growth. So here comes cancer immunotherapy in action. Cancer immunotherapy is the most rapidly advancing treatment option that enhances the immune system's ability to recognize and attack mutated cancer cells in the body. It also helps produce additional components such as cytokines which boosts your body's natural ability to fight against cancer cells.  There are various types of immunotherapies, at present, which may work in different ways such as: Immune checkpoint inhibitors: It includes drugs that inhibit cancer cells from activating the immune system (immune checkpoints) and increase the body's defence to destroy cancer cells. Examples are nivolumab, ipilimumab, avelumab etc. FDA has approved most of the immune checkpoint
Read more

Cancer diagnostic tests: What you need to know!

Image
  Cancer is suspected as per the person’s symptoms. The next step that follows is the thorough diagnosis of cancer which is crucial before initiating personalized therapy. Different tests are available to detect the type, location and staging of cancer. These tests are performed either by a physician, radiologist or oncologist. Time and again, new diagnostic tools have been developed along with improvements in the prevailing methods. Some of the commonly used diagnostic tests or methods are as under: Biopsy: A biopsy is done by obtaining a small tissue surgically from the speculated area and examining it under the microscope to confirm the presence of cancer cells. As this is an outpatient procedure, there is no need for a hospital stay at night. As biopsies can be painful, a local anaesthetic can be used. There are several ways to perform Biopsies; these are: Needle biopsy: Here, the tissue or fluid is removed via a needle. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) can be effective for fluid
Read more