Sitting on a beach and soaking up the sun's rays becomes a welcome daydream to those who need a break from work. The challenge is finding the balance between a healthy dose of sun and a hazardous one. Unfortunately, a dangerous dose can be had by forgetting to put on enough sunscreen and falling asleep in the sun. Here is what you need to know about how the sun hurts your skin and what steps can be taken to repair the damage.

Ultraviolet Rays Are to Blame

The real danger in sunlight are the ultraviolet (UV) rays that shine on your skin. Sunlight is made of three invisible forms of waves:

• Ultraviolet A (UVA) - These shine on the Earth constantly and are hard to block. They can travel deep into your skin.
• Ultraviolet B (UVB) - These appear mostly in the summer months and don't penetrate further than the first layer of skin. They can be easily blocked by glass and clothing.
• Ultraviolet C (UVC) - These waves are blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and rarely hit your skin.

UVB waves cause superficial sunburns while UVA waves can damage deep skin tissues and trigger the formation of cancer cells.

Skin Damage from Overexposure

Too much sun on your unprotected skin causes the cells to react in various ways:

• A mild sunburn occurs when the top layer of skin is damaged and the cells can no longer absorb the UV rays.
• A moderate to severe sunburn dries out the skin, leaving a tough layer of dead cells that won't allow the skin to breath normally. These burns can develop carcinomas which are patches of localized cancer cells. These appear as tumors on the skin which don't go deep into the lower layers.
• Severe sun exposure can produce melanomas which start in and under the skin but can spread to other organs. Once these cancerous cells spread, treatment is difficult and only slows down the progression of the cancer.

Treatment Options for Damaged Skin

Minor and moderate burns are treated by re-hydrating the skin with lotions that also reduce the pain of the areas. Skin cancer treatment depends on where the cells are located and how far they have spread.

Small carcinomas - When superficial, these can be cut or scraped from the skin, frozen and removed, or killed with a direct beam of radiation. An ointment containing chemical agents that kill cancer cells may be used on small areas.

Melanomas - These cancer cells pose the biggest risk of spreading to other organs so they must be removed surgically along with an amount of healthy tissue around them. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy may be used after the surgery to prevent the growth of any cells left behind. When the melanomas have already spread, chemotherapy is the choice to kill as many cancer cells as possible. This treatment won't cure your melanoma, but it will slow down the spread of cells.

When relaxing or working in the sun, be mindful of the amount of sun your skin is getting. See a dermatologist (like those at TrueSkin Dermatology & Surgery, Inc.) if you have any burns that don't go away after a few days or you develop a hard mass on or under the skin after a burn.