Is there any such thing as a healthy tan?

No such thing as a healthy tan.

If your skin is changing color in any way, that's your skin's stress response to UV rays.

So when the UV rays hit your skin, there's these cells called melanocytes that produce the melanin, which is the pigment that gives you the tan or freckles or whatever that might be.

And that melanin production is your body's way of trying to protect the underlying layers of your skin from the UV damage.

So it's inflammation in the skin and inflammation in the skin long-term will lead to lots of different types of problems.

So even, you know, people would say, well, even on an overclass day, do you need to do it? And I'm saying, yes, the UV rays still penetrate clouds and it's that cumulative damage that's built up over years that can lead to things like skin cancers, which is obviously the worst case scenario.

I know there's a kind of urban myth that, and you might clear this up for us, that when you're sitting in the car, is it possible that you can still get significant UV exposure through the window of your car?

But we need to be very careful of this all too rare visitation of the sun, don't we?

We do indeed.

I mean, what is rare is wonderful, and it is wonderful, and we definitely need to embrace this gorgeous weather and spend time outside.

But I think we're just not used to having it so consistently here in Ireland, and with that comes issues of sun damage.

And I completely understand the temptation to get out into the sun, but we really need to be mindful of how our skin responds to the sun and not be chasing a tan, because ultimately, a tan is not a sign of healthy skin.

It's a visible SOS distress signal from your skin-

That's going to tan naturally." Anyway, address that one for me.

Well, uh, it, it's the same thing.