Health officials have issued warning against the crazy and hazardous trend that's been circulating in social media lately — sunburn art.

While it's common knowledge that sunburn causes skin cancer, some manage to use it as a means of artistic expression by using stencils or strategically applying sunblock to make a do-it-yourself temporary sunburn tattoo on their bodies, abc3340.com reported.

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Participants of the said trend then take pictures of their creation and post them on sites like Facebook or Twitter.

"Sunburns cause DNA damage to the skin, accelerate skin aging, and increase your lifetime skin cancer risk," the Skin Cancer Foundation warned in a statement, philly.com has learned.. "In fact, sustaining five or more sunburns in youth increases lifetime melanoma risk by 80 percent. On average, a person's risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had more than five sunburns."

Senior vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation Dr. Deborah Sarnoff, shared that the health hazards of sunburns are always healthy unborn.

The ultraviolet rays in sunshine or the rays emitted by tanning beds destroy the skin cells DNA making them prone to cancer development or melanoma.

Also, the risk of cancer is cumulative which means that the more tans and sunburns an individual experiences throughout his lifetime, the more chances he has for developing melanoma or skin cancer.

"People may think this is creative or a new art form, but the fact remains that sunburns are terribly dangerous, and I don't think the average person on the street understands that to this day," said Sarnoff. "There's really no such thing as a healthy tan. Tanned skin is damaged skin."

Deputy Chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, said that the sunburn art trend will become particularly disturbing when people would try to compete with each other.

"When we get to a place where it's socially acceptable or becomes a competition, anything like that tends to reduce the awareness of the risk of that behavior," said Lichtenfeld. "The burn may go away, but the damage doesn't go away, and it continues to accumulate over time."

Authorities recommend that people should instead opt for safer means of using their bodies for art expressions such temporary tattoos or body paintings.

"If you're doing it for the shock value or the art form, there are other ways one can adorn the body without putting your life span at risk," Sarnoff explained. "Whatever is motivating them, perhaps they can pick an alternative method that will still be beautiful."

Meanwhile, in Queensland — considered as the skin cancer capital of the world, a team of scientist at the Queensland University of Technology led by Dr. Elke Hacker are attempting to pass on their title by exploring the latest sunburn-prevention tools currently available: wearable UV sensors and smartphone apps, as per the Brisbane Times.

Tagssunburn, art, Cancer, skin, melanoma