How many sunburns does it take to get skin cancer?

We need to under­stand that sun­burn itself does not cause skin can­cer. It is the over­ex­po­sure to the dan­ger­ous ultra­vi­o­let radi­a­tion that dam­ages skin cells, weak­en­ing them and cre­at­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for can­cer to form. Sun­burn is sim­ply a symp­tom that high­lights this skin damage.

When­ev­er your skin is exposed to UV light, it reacts by pro­duc­ing more mela­tonin. This helps to dark­en the skin, which works to pro­tect cells from fur­ther dam­age. That is why those with paler skin tend to burn more eas­i­ly; they are more sus­cep­ti­ble to UV damage.

Since skin can­cer is caused by the cumu­la­tive effects of UVB expo­sure, it makes sense that repeat­ed sun­burns can increase your chances of devel­op­ing skin can­cer lat­er on.

Sta­tis­tics show that just five blis­ter­ing sun­burns as a teenag­er can sub­stan­tial­ly increase your risk of devel­op­ing skin can­cer. A person’s total risk lev­el depends on mul­ti­ple fac­tors, which may include:

• Genet­ics — Have oth­ers in your fam­i­ly bat­tled skin cancer?
• Com­plex­ion / skin colour­ing — The lighter your com­plex­ion, the more apt you are to sus­tain sun damage.
• The amount of dai­ly sun expo­sure — Those who spend a lot of time out­doors with­out pro­tec­tion are at a high­er risk of devel­op­ing skin cancer
• The num­ber and sever­i­ty of sun­burns expe­ri­enced - The more your skin has been dam­aged by the sun, the less able it is to pro­tect itself
• Over­all health and immu­ni­ty — a healthy body is bet­ter equipped to heal itself

Could you be at risk? Take our quick risk quiz to find out.

Ear­ly detec­tion is vital to elim­i­nat­ing the risk of skin can­cer and ensur­ing your skin is healthy.

If you notice a sus­pi­cious spot on your skin when you do your self-check, con­sid­er hav­ing it checked for your peace of mind. If you have not tried con­duct­ing a reg­u­lar self-exam­i­na­tion, this arti­cle about how to know the dif­fer­ence between a nor­mal mole from a can­cer­ous mole can help you get started.

To promptly assess your risk, schedule a professional skin check or mole check at a skin cancer clinic without delay.