It May Look Cool But Trending “Sunburn Art” May Actually Lead to Skin Cancer

Recently, many Instagram and Twitter users are posting photos on their online accounts using the hashtag #sunburnart.

As the name implies, sunburn art is a tattoo-like body art that’s done with – you guessed it – sunburn.

What people do is that they stylistically apply sunscreen on their body and then expose it to the sun in order to achieve the desired effect.

Dermatologists, however, are firm in declaring their position about this new trend. These skin experts are strongly warning people against it because they believe it can lead to skin cancer.

In this latest trend, sunscreen is used liked a stencil.

“This is where popular culture is clashing with medical advice” Dr. Barney Kenet simply said. “It’s really obvious that sunburn does two things to you: it gives you lines and freckles and wrinkles and it also causes skin cancer especially melanoma.”

Dr. Julia Carroll, on the other hand, called sunburn art “horrifying” saying she couldn’t understand why people would deliberately expose themselves to the sun for long periods of time.

Thousands of people are sharing their sunburn art designs on Instagram and Twitter.

The subject reached even the US Skin Cancer Foundation and the agency decided to issue their own statement about it as well.

Some go for simple designs like this…

While others go for elaborate ones.

“The Skin Cancer Foundation strongly advises the public to avoid sunburns at all costs. A sunburn is not only painful – it’s dangerous, and comes with consequences.”

And those consequences can be quite serious.

Besides, sunburn can cause DNA damage, boost skin ageing, and, as mentioned by the dermatologists, increase risks of acquiring skin cancer.

Here’s a video report by CTV News:

So from a medical perspective, yes, sunburn art is definitely not a good idea. To be fair, many of these sunburn arts look awesome but still, we hope this trend goes away sooner than later.

This guy probably sunbathed with laptop and stapler on top of his body.

Share this on social media and warn your friends regarding sunburn art!

H/T: DailyMail