The 2012 edition of The Skin Cancer Foundation Journal features medically reviewed, reader-friendly articles such as tanning, the increasing incidence of skin cancer diagnoses among young women, & the prevalence of melanoma among white males over 50.
BEAUTY
Today, sunless tanners are available in creams, lotions, gels, pump sprays, aerosols, and wipes. Advances in technology have made all of them easier than ever to apply, and more capable of providing natural- looking color.
UVA oxidizes the existing melanin, causing immediate pigment darkening. [Figure 1] UVB causes inflammation, which releases new melanin to neighboring epidermal cells, and in about 72 hours, this leads to further
tanning that lasts much longer than the UVA- triggered tanning. All of this melanin production signals that DNA damage has already occurred: it is a far from perfect attempt by the body to protect the skin from further
SUN VS. SUNLESS: A COMPARISON Suntan
Epidermis Melanoids Dermis
Sunless tanning
Epidermis Melanoids Dermis
Figure 1: Difference in color source and distribution, suntan vs. sunless tanning with DHA
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damage. Nonetheless, the damage from repeated UV exposures keeps accumulating and can ultimately lead to skin cancer.
WHAT IS A SUNLESS TAN? With sunless tanning, no such damage occurs. The "tan" from most sunless tanners comes from the coloring agent dihydroxyacetone (DHA), a simple carbohydrate. DHA binds to the proteins on the skin's surface, forming brownish melanin-like mol- ecules called "melanoids" that make the skin appear tan. Unlike UV, DHA does not penetrate beyond the skin surface. As can be seen in Figure 1, it is active only in the stratum corneum, the epidermis's protective outermost layer of dead skin cells. Antioxidants such as caffeic acid
phenethyl ester (CAPE) may be added to the self- tanner1,2
to mitigate the
artificial-looking orange or yellow color DHA can produce on the skin and achieve a more natural tone.3
WHICH TYPE DO I USE? Today, sunless tanners are available in creams, lotions, gels, pump sprays, aerosols, and wipes. Advances in tech- nology have made all of them easier than ever to apply, and more capable of providing natural- looking color,4 but each formulation offers different advantages. Creams and lotions are the most popular due to ease of use;
SK IN CANCER FOUNDAT ION JOURNA L