Getting This Many Sunburns Could More Than Double the Risk of Skin Cancer

Mira Miller
·5 min read
Photo Illustration by Zack Angeline for Verywell Health; Getty Images
Photo Illustration by Zack Angeline for Verywell Health; Getty Images

Key Takeaways

  • Getting sunburned five times can more than double your risk of developing skin cancer, but any sun damage at all can contribute to the potential for long-term effects.

  • A full-body burn is going to cause more damage than a small-area burn.

  • Skin cancer occurs when skin cells are overwhelmed with damage and lose the ability to repair themselves, and this is caused by the total amount of sun exposure over a lifetime.

There’s no better feeling than soaking up some much-needed vitamin D after a long, cold winter. But protecting yourself from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays is imperative—especially because any sun damage can potentially have long-term effects.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, just getting five sunburns in your lifetime can more than double the risk of developing skin cancer.

Elyse Love, MD, a dermatologist who works at New York City-based skin care center GlamDerm, said each sunburn can damage skin cells and potentially heighten the risk of skin cancer. That includes minor burns, too.

“The severity and the distribution of a sunburn do matter, but all sunburns—even a little pink—are a sign of skin damage and can potentially contribute to the development of skin cancer over time,” Love told Verywell.

According to Angela Casey, MD, a skin cancer surgeon at the Center for Surgical Dermatology and Dermatology Associates in Westerville, Ohio, the amount of damage from sunburn depends on various factors. But a full-body burn that results from spending hours in the afternoon sun without any sunscreen on is going to cause more damage than a small burn caused by missing a few spots when applying sunscreen, she said.

“Sunburn is a marker of the amount and severity of sun damage that occurs within a short window of time,” Casey told Verywell. “At the cellular level, the ultraviolet rays of the sun are penetrating through and into the skin, causing radiation damage to the cells in the skin. The skin’s response to this UV attack is to release a flood of inflammatory cells to help heal the damage and allow the skin to recover. It is this inflammation that manifests as the warmth and redness of a sunburn.”

Related: 5 Research-Backed Foods to Help Heal a Sunburn

Some studies have shown that the earlier someone’s exposed to harmful UV rays frequently, the more likely they’re going to develop skin cancer later in life.

“The more severe and more frequent sunburns obtained in childhood, the more substantial the long-term damage is, but there is no safe age where sunburns no longer become relevant to long-term skin health,” Love said.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, people would only have 23% of their lifetime sun damage by the time they reach age 19, meaning adult behaviors still matter significantly.

Casey said the total amount of sun exposure over a lifetime is the real culprit regardless of when it occurs. For example, someone who had lots of sun exposure from ages 5–10 but then stayed very sun-protected throughout their teens and adulthood is going to have relatively lower cumulative sun damage overall.

Related: Are You at Risk of Skin Cancer? How to Determine When to See a Dermatologist

Most of Casey’s patients are age 50 and above, but she said much of their sun damage comes from their younger years. This is because many of these patients grew up in a generation when sunscreen wasn’t readily available and wasn’t encouraged as it is today, she said.

“The majority of skin cancer patients that I see really haven’t had much sun exposure over the last 10 to 20 years,” she said. “However, they sustained sun damage in their younger years that is persisting in their skin cells. As they age, their immune systems start to weaken. This sets the stage for skin cancer to grow.”

The good news about experiencing mild sun damage in younger years is that our body is usually at its peak fitness and our immune systems are at its strongest during this time, Casey added. Healthy immune systems and “young” cells support optimal repair of UV damage within our skin cells.

“Earlier in life, our skin can recover more easily from sunburns and sun damage,” she said. “As we age, our immune systems are not as strong as they once were. Therefore, it is more challenging for our skin cells to repair themselves because we don’t have that ‘army’ of strong and healthy immune cells to go in and fix the UV damage that is occurring at the cellular level.”

The DNA in our skin cells has a remarkable ability to repair and recover from sun damage, Casey explained. But too much cumulative damage can overwhelm the body’s ability to repair the DNA, and this is when skin cancer starts to form.

Related: Get Sunburn Relief With Home Remedies for Pain & Inflammation

To avoid getting sun damage while spending time outside, Love said you should always wear broad-spectrum SPF 30 (or higher) sunscreen on all sun exposed areas of the body, reapply after two hours of additive sun exposure and after all water encounters, wear hats and glasses, avoid prolonged sun exposure between 10 am and 3 pm on high UV index days, and review additional sun protective behaviors or requirements with your physician if you’re on oral or topical medications that make you more sensitive to the sun.

“Sun protection should be regarded like oral hygiene: just like you brush and floss your teeth daily, you should apply sunscreen every single morning,” Casey said.

“Applying sunscreen is like putting a little money in the bank of your skin health each day. Too often, I hear from my skin cancer patients ‘Dr. Casey, I wish I had known,’ in relation to sun protection and skincare habits of their youth. What would you have done differently?”

Related: How to Choose a Non-Toxic Sunscreen That Actually Works, According to Dermatologists

To avoid increasing your chances of developing skin cancer, do your best to avoid sun damage by applying and reapplying sunscreen, wearing hats and glasses, and staying out of the sun on the hottest days. While just five lifetime sunburns can more than double the risk of skin cancer, each individual burn contributes to your total cumulative sun damage.