Anti Aging Skin Tips

If skin diesand peels away, then how can you get skin cancer later in life?

I was just wondering because I was wondering how the skin can have skin cancer from a sunburn from 30 years before if skin dies or peels off every year or even jsut in the winter when you become pale again? Can anyone explain this because I just thought about it today and I find it sort of fascinating.

Public Comments

1. It's not damage to the epidermis, but damage to the subcutaneous layers that is a cause of melanoma later in life. When you get a sunburn, you see and feel the effects on the surface layers of your skin (epidermis) But the layers below that (subcutaneous) also receive damage which can accrue over time. The melanoma on the surface, which is usually the first sign of a problem, comes up from below. That's why when a cancerous growth is removed from the skin, it leaves quite a deep wound...you got to dig it out by the roots to make sure you get it all.
2. You didn't do very well in math, either, did you?
3. Your epidermis is composed of five layers. The top layer of the epidermis is called the stratum corneum. This is the part that peels away. They are just skin cells that have lost their nucleus and become filled with keratin. The very first layer (bottom) of your skin is called the stratum germinativum. These are the cells that reproduce and as they grow more cells, the cells push up through the layers. Sun damage can accumulate in this layer and cause a serious of mutations leading to disordered growth. This is what is known as "Basal cell carcinoma". Another type of skin cancer is called "Squamous cell Carcinoma" . While your epidermal cells move up through the layers, they are supposed to mature into the nucleolus-free, keratin filled cells. When this process goes awry, you get squamous cell carcinoma. The last type of common skin cancers is known as Melanoma. Aside from the basal cells in your stratum germinativum, there are also melanin cells. Theses are responsible for producing the pigment melanin, which gives color to your skin, and when you stay in the sun, your melanin production increases to give you a tan. When these cells begin to growth uncontrollably, you get melanoma. So you see, it is the cells below the dead layer that are responsible for skin cancer, and not the dead cells that flake off. edit: your dermis and your subcutaneous layers are associated with other cancer types, but are not sites for melanoma or bcc to arise. However, invasive melanoma and BCC can invade these layers causing serious problems.
4. You constantly shed dead skin cells every day and are always creating new ones.