Sunlight and the Skin

To avoid the sun would be to exist without one of the great pleasures of life. But, as with most enjoyable things, indiscriminate exposure can result in unhappiness and even serious illnesses. The undesirable results of indiscretions have been recognized from the earliest times. Scientific and medical investigations of the subject have evolved into a field known as clinical dermatologic photobiology, pioneered in the United States around the 1930's by such investigators as Blum, Epstein, Sulzberger, Stokes, and Rothman. Through the use of modern solar simulating lamps, ultraviolet (UV) light filters, and monochromators in improved diagnostic test procedures, recent investigators have accomplished much toward a better understanding of the pathogenesis of sunlight-induced skin disorders. 1 This new knowledge has permitted increasingly better approaches to the treatment and prevention of these disorders. The purpose of this communication is to describe the most common types of sunlight-induced skin disorders, with special