The Health Thread

[rodhulk]

Well it doesn't repair the skin by itself, your skin cells have to do it. But it does help because it prevents additional damage when they're trying to do their thing. Like, if you keep on getting sunburnt, your skin cells have even MORE to do while trying to repair old damage.

I don't think using sunscreen will reverse damage, it just helps prevent additional damage so your body can do the repairs. The physical signs of aging is also mostly genetic, as well as an inflammation thing. If you keep your skin moisturized and unsunburnt and don't drink or smoke too much, that's pretty much the most you can do. Consuming antioxidant-rich foods help too.

Concerning suntans, how bad are they compared to burns? And is cancer a high risk with sun tans or is it just sunburns?

 

[Anita18]

Concerning suntans, how bad are they compared to burns? And is cancer a high risk with sun tans or is it just sunburns?

Mostly sunburns. A tan means your skin is reacting to the UV rays, but it's keeping up with it okay. It's not nearly as bad as a burn, which means that the skin (and the underlying layers) is already heavily damaged. The additional color is what will protect your skin against damage, and is a very natural reaction.

Of course that means that you're also exposing yourself to more UV rays than usual. So a very deep tan in a short amount of time isn't the best thing to do for your skin.

 

[rodhulk]

Mostly sunburns. A tan means your skin is reacting to the UV rays, but it's keeping up with it okay. It's not nearly as bad as a burn, which means that the skin (and the underlying layers) is already heavily damaged. The additional color is what will protect your skin against damage, and is a very natural reaction.

Of course that means that you're also exposing yourself to more UV rays than usual. So a very deep tan in a short amount of time isn't the best thing to do for your skin.

I'm curious, exactly how does a sunburn cause cancer? And can a person get sun burned at least once every year and never develop cancer? I'm sure they can but I'm wondering how often this would be (ex. one out of ten, two out of ten, etc...).

I know you're into cancer research so it's interesting to get answers directly from a cancer specialist. Thanks, again.

 

[Anita18]

I'm curious, exactly how does a sunburn cause cancer? And can a person get sun burned at least once every year and never develop cancer? I'm sure they can but I'm wondering how often this would be (ex. one out of ten, two out of ten, etc...).

I know you're into cancer research so it's interesting to get answers directly from a cancer specialist. Thanks, again.

UV light cause DNA breaks in both strands at multiple random places. This is proven, we even have a little machine in the lab that looks like a vintage toaster oven that emits UV at specific doses. When we want to test how a cell line can repair UV damage, we stick in a plate of cells, set it, and then turn it on and off it zaps.

Strong UV does a good job of sterilizing things. You might have seen toothbrush sanitizers or water purifiers that utilize UV light. The UV in them is so strong, it causes such massive DNA breaks that the cells die in short order. We have a UV light in our tissue culture hood where we work with cells. When we're not using it, the UV light is on, to kill bacteria and other things (including our own DNA ) we don't want contaminating our samples. Once I asked my boss how strong it was, and he said it would give me a sunburn in 5 minutes. The new hoods have a safety mechanism so the UV light can't come on unless the hood is closed, in case some people are stupid and turn the UV light on while other people are working nearby.

I couldn't give you a percentage. It really depends on where the DNA damage occurs (since it is completely random) and how that person's cells repair it. But obviously the more it happens, the odds are greater that a bad mutation occurs. It's also hard to study because the damage is random and happens in multiple places. I think people just use UV damage to study the overall ability of a cell line (cells with a known specific mutation) to repair such damage. It's not the best route to study the mechanism a cell would actually use in order to repair the DNA, because DNA is so long and convoluted. What my lab does is create a break in a specific point (so we know where and how to look) and see how the damage is repaired. We just use UV as another comparison tool.

 

[rodhulk]

UV light cause DNA breaks in both strands at multiple random places. This is proven, we even have a little machine in the lab that looks like a vintage toaster oven that emits UV at specific doses. When we want to test how a cell line can repair UV damage, we stick in a plate of cells, set it, and then turn it on and off it zaps.

Strong UV does a good job of sterilizing things. You might have seen toothbrush sanitizers or water purifiers that utilize UV light. The UV in them is so strong, it causes such massive DNA breaks that the cells die in short order. We have a UV light in our tissue culture hood where we work with cells. When we're not using it, the UV light is on, to kill bacteria and other things (including our own DNA ) we don't want contaminating our samples. Once I asked my boss how strong it was, and he said it would give me a sunburn in 5 minutes. The new hoods have a safety mechanism so the UV light can't come on unless the hood is closed, in case some people are stupid and turn the UV light on while other people are working nearby.

I couldn't give you a percentage. It really depends on where the DNA damage occurs (since it is completely random) and how that person's cells repair it. But obviously the more it happens, the odds are greater that a bad mutation occurs. It's also hard to study because the damage is random and happens in multiple places. I think people just use UV damage to study the overall ability of a cell line (cells with a known specific mutation) to repair such damage. It's not the best route to study the mechanism a cell would actually use in order to repair the DNA, because DNA is so long and convoluted. What my lab does is create a break in a specific point (so we know where and how to look) and see how the damage is repaired. We just use UV as another comparison tool.

Interesting, Thanks!

I've also been very recently told that cancer in the mouth can spread quickly to other parts of the body. Is this true?

 

[Holiday]

I'm curious, does anyone here shun commercial toothpaste for a more natural solution? If so, what do you use instead?

I've been reading that commercial toothpaste isn't good for our teeth contrary to popular opinion, that vitamin d is proven better for teeth than fluoride and that glycerin found in I guess all if not most of these toothpastes sticks on the teeth not allowing them to remineralize.