According to a new study, sun can burn your skin and damage DNA and eventually lead to skin cancer but the process may continue even after your sun exposure.

The study found that the ultraviolet rays will continue to damage our skin even in the dark. The rays can change the structure of our DNA and even cause cancer hours after people have stopped being exposed to the sun or a tanning bed.

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Researchers conducted experiments on skin cells from humans and mice and they found the cells underwent a kind of DNA damage hours after the UVA lamps were turned off, not immediately, as it was previously believed. The UVA rays constitute around 95 percent of the ultraviolet radiation that gets through Earth's atmosphere.

"Sure, blondes and redheads are more sensitive to sunburns and skin cancer. But then you look at countries like Egypt, where many people have fairly light skin tones, and there isn't the high skin cancer incidence you'd expect. So I was never sure I bought that the lightness of the skin was the issue." said study author Douglas Brash, a professor of therapeutic radiology and dermatology at Yale University.

Brash along with his colleagues wanted discover how melanin is involved in it. The reason why DNA damage from ultraviolet radiation happens at least three hours after exposure is related to melanin, the pigment that gives us the color of our skin and hair. It was revealed that melanin itself can cause damage to the DNA.

But when UV rays were introduced to the cells, something surprising began happening. After the researchers switched off the UV light, the damage didn't stop but kept happening.

Melanin can actually help prevent and cause cancer because ultraviolet light can generate molecules that energize electrons in melanin and it's this energy that is transmitted to the DNA and damages it.

To avoid damage by the sun, it is recommended that high-protection sunscreen be used at all times when outside.

TagsUV rays, sunburn, Sunlight, sun exposure, Skin Cancer, skin cells, ultraviolet rays, tanning