Do you love having a beautiful tan, but are afraid of the dangerous UV rays? Scientists might have found a way to provide people with tans and not put them at risk of getting skin cancer. The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, analyzes the possibility of darkening a person’s skin pigment without sun exposure.
- People might soon get a tan without exposing themselves to UV radiation.
- A new method might turn light skin pigments into darker ones.
- This makes use of certain enzymes found in skin cells and reduces the risk of skin cancer.
This discovery is massive for people who love tans, but have a light-pigment skin. Such a skin usually has a harder ability to tan, and is also related to a higher risk of skin cancer. Also, dark skin can manage UV rays better, since the harmful rays are partially blocked. Therefore, if scientists make the skin pigment darker, they might reduce the effects of radiation.
During a previous experiment, David Fisher, the main author of this study, and his team of researchers discovered a way to change pigments in mouse skin from fair to dark. Unfortunately, when they tried the same method on human skin, they didn’t obtain the desired results.
Since then, they looked for other ways to turn human skin darker. In the end, they discovered certain components of skin cells which control their pigmentation. These are enzymes called small-molecule salt-inducible kinases.
Then, they used these enzymes on both mouse skin and human skin, and both of them turned darker. The more enzymes they used, the darker the skin became. They noticed that the human skin behaved exactly as if it had got a tan, but without the damaging effect of radiation.
However, this solution cannot be used on people yet. Before reaching the shelves of pharmacies, it needs to undergo thorough testing to prove it is completely safe to use as an alternative method to get a tan, without the skin cancer risk.
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