How do we tan? – Drug Synthesis

Question: How do we tan?
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Asked by 966drud45 to Anne, Florence, Mark, Neil, Sinead on 15 Nov 2015.
- Florence McCarthy answered on 15 Nov 2015:
  
  The tanning effect is produced by a substance called melatonin which our skin cells produce. The melatonin levels determine the colour of our skin and it is produced in response to sun damage in some people in order to darken the skin and lessen the damage. Over exposure to the sun is really bad as it can cause skin cancer so it’s always best to use sunscreen.
- Sinead Balgobin answered on 16 Nov 2015:
  
  Cells in our skin called melanocytes produce a brown pigment called melanin, which gives us the tanned colour when they are exposed to sunlight. The brown pigment helps to protects us just a bit from harmful UV rays. People with darker skin have melanocytes that produce more melanin.
  
  Melanin can only help so much though, and you should always make sure to put on good sunscreen (factor 30) to help stop the harmful UV rays from causing skin cancer.

Question: How do we tan?