Eli5: Why does UV light damage skin?
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Because it is a form of radiation and radiation causes cell DNA damage, altering cell DNA can cause premature aging and cancer as well. It is not ionizing radiation like gamma rays, the damage is slower but still there.
Skin is made of lots of sheets of jelly-filled packets called cells. Inside each cell is a chemical called DNA that determines what a cell does, what it’s child cells look like, and how the child cells behave.
The UV light has just the right amount of energy that it can push two parts of a DNA molecule to stick together abnormally and mess up how the DNA in the cell works. Good news: the cell has a way to fix the damage. Bad news: sometimes it makes a mistake. The damage to the skin comes from the DNA damage hurting the cell.
UV light damages skin because it damages everything it touches. Think about something plastic left in the sun, it degrades and becomes brittle and sunbleached.
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