ABSTRACT
In modern society, tan is a sign of health and attractiveness, but in terms of medicine the sunburn is a defensive reaction on the skin to the damage caused by ultraviolet rays. The main objective of the sunburn is to prevent further damage that can lead to dangerous changes in the skin. Acute effects of ultraviolet radiation are manifested in the form of skin redness (solar erythema) and/or burn. Chronic exposure may lead to weakening of the immune system (immunosuppressive effect), skin cancer (Urbach, 1993; Glanz, 2007), benign abnormalities of melanocytes (freckles, melanocytic nevi, solar and senile lentigo), photoaging is the result of chronic exposure of keratinocytes, blood vessels and fibrous tissue (Diffey, 2002). Sunburn is a risk factor for both melanoma skin cancer and for non-melanoma skin cancer (Green & Battistutta, 1990; Marks & Whiteman, 1994). To prevent the harmful effects of solar radiation it is necessary to avoid being under the sun from 10:00 to 16:00 of the day, wear clothing to protect from the sun and use sunscreen cosmetics products. According to the research we can say that sunscreen creams reduce the number of non-melanoma skin cancers provoked by UV radiation on the skin of animals (Gurish et al, 1981), and reduce burns, caused by UV radiation on the skin of people (Pathak et al, 1985).
