Melanoma And Ultraviolet Radiation

Many people think that is it possible to achieve a “healthy tan,” but this thought has been proven wrong. Overexpose to UV-A and UV-B rays from the sun lead to premature aging of the skin, as well as the possible formation of skin cancer, know as melanoma. An appearance of a tan is actually a stage of burning and damage to the skin. Although a tan may be desirable to many, the fact remains that more people need to be educated on the dangers of the sun’s harmful rays, and the possible health complications of overexposure.

The largest organ of the human body is your skin. It is your body’s first line of defense against infections, injuries, heat, and sunlight. It also helps in controlling the temperature of your body and getting rid of the excess water and salt by sweating it out. Skin cancer is also known as cancer of the sun. Excessive amounts of ultra violet lights affect your skin in negative ways, possibly leading to Melanoma skin cancer. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer there is and can often times be fatal (McClay).

These brown coloured cancerous growths develop when unrepaired DNA has committed damage to the body’s skin cells. It is known that it is the most commonly triggered by vigorous amounts of sunshine, over excessive use of tanning bed and UV lights which result in making mutations in the skin that produces the skin cells to over multiply at a quick rate which can eventually form nasty tumours.

Although there are several types of skin cancer, the most aggressive form is melanoma. This cancer of the skin involves mass replication of the pigment producing melanocyte cells, which are located in the epidermis, below the basal layer. There are several factors involved with the onset of melanoma including, exposure to ultraviolet rays, genetic predisposition, numerous nevi (moles), immunosuppression, and environmental exposure to carcinogens.

The basic component in tanning is ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light, whether produced by a tanning unit or by the sun, contains two components; UVA and UVB. These are the two types of ultraviolet radiation that are known to negatively effect the skin. UVA has a longer wavelength that causes photoaging and can produce some melanomas. UVB has a shorter wavelength that also causes photoaging and has been implicated in skin cancers. Photoaging is the premature aging or deep wrinkling of skin. Indoor tanning units utilize both forms of light waves to tan a person with a minimized risk of sunburn. Tanning outdoors does not give you this option because the sun omits every type of UV rays, so a person is more likely to burn. A person’s skin epidermis consists of two layers: The germinative layer and the horny layer. Another name for the germinative layer is the “living layer.” And another name for the horny layer is the “dead” layer. When exposed to ultraviolet light, melanocytes in the germinative layer produce melanin that is absorbed by surrounding cells. Melanin is a dark pigment found in the pigment-bearing cells of the skin, and melanocytes are epidermal cells capable of synthesizing melanin. This creates a protective barrier from ultraviolet light reaching deeper into the layers of the skin. The pale pink melanin granules are stored in the core of keratin cells. UVA darkens the melanin,

“Those who tanned the most—for ten years or more had more than twice the risk of melanoma compared with people who never used tanning beds.”—Martin Weinstock of Brown University of Medicine. Tanning beds are very menacing machines. They give out ultra violet rays that lead to melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Tanning beds are causing many problems to millions of people.

    Most people are exposed to large amount UVA rays in their lifetime.They account for up to ninety-five percent of

Surprisingly, the sun-kissed tanned skin is what most younger whiter complexions are eagerly trying to desire; despite the risk of artificial tanning that could cause to a person’s health, but the rate of people using a tanning salon is still rising. In America, there are 30 million white females from ages 16 to 29 years old that are fascinated in indoor tanning (Becirevic, Amel et al, 2017). As the rate of tanning bed users rises the melanoma incident has also increased. Melanoma risk is associated with artificial tanning for a very long period of exposure to the ultraviolet radiation which skin problem can occur later in life. People used artificial tanning as it gives very quick result for a brief period and the fewest number of sessions

Before one can discuss harmful effects of tanning equipment and increased sun exposure, one must be familiar with the components of ultraviolet light and how affects the skin. Sunlight contains two types of ultraviolet (UV) light: UVA and UVB. UVA rays consist of longer wavelengths that penetrate deep into the dermal layer of skin. Limited exposure to UVA rays causes skin to tan; however, most experts agree that overexposure to UVA can lead to other long-term skin damage. UVB rays’ wavelengths are much shorter, affecting the outermost layers of skin. UVB rays are known as the "burning rays" and are considered more dangerous. Tanning beds and sun lamps generally emit 93% to 99% UVA

UV radiation, such as that from the sun can be very harmful. It has been shown to cause many different mutations within cells, leading to issues for the organism such as death or disease. One of the most prevalent sources of UV radiation for humans is the sun. It’s very important for us to know the extent of cellular damage that can be caused by this radiation, as to know how harmful the sun’s rays are to us as humans. One way that the damage caused by the suns radiation can be tested is through the model organism yeast. For this lab, we exposed two different strains of yeast to UV radiation to test its affects. One strain was able to self-repair, while one was genetically altered so that it could not. Observations were recorded at

Vitiligo is a skin pigmentation disorder. This disorder can be recognized by the presence of the patches and macules that are depigmented. For instance, someone with darker skin will have white patches among their body, as well as some white hair. Melanoma Associated Hypopigmentation is also a depigmentation of the skin, but it can be associated with immunotherapeutic agent treatments. Vitiligo and Melanoma Associated Hypopigmentation are both leukodermas. They also seem to link to MM which is Malignant Melanoma.

The graph above shows the Melanoma Incidence and Mortality in the United States. Melanoma is one of the newest type of cancer diagnosis that is the fifth most common type of new cancer in American men and the seventh most common in American women. Whites or Caucasians are more at risk of growing melanoma than African Americans, which makes the incidence and mortality rates for melanoma highest in Whites and Caucasians. Incidence rates are higher in women than in men that are younger than the age of 45 years old. Melanoma incidence rates in men are more than twice as higher of those in women at the age of 60 or older. When a man reaches the age of 80 they are three times more times likely to grow melanoma than women. The yearly incidence rate

Ultraviolet light is present in sunlight. Generally the wavelengths are too short to be seen in the visible spectrum, it is present in sunlight, tanning beds, and black lights. (Lynch and Livingston, 2001) Earth’s atmosphere blocks

Cancer treatment is one of the greatest benefits of image processing in the medical field. However Melanoma one of the most dangerous forms of cancer which leads to more casualties than any other form of skin cancer has very little light shed on its image processing models. Mostly inspections are done by the physicians visually and image processing is utilized only when the patient enters the late stages of its life cycle. The main source of information is usually gathered visually and in this master's thesis I shall develop a working android application using which a patient can monitor and examine themselves with just a mobile phone.

Premature aging is one main effect of sun exposure. Becoming an old looking, wrinkly person is the last thing people look forward to, but did you know that the average