if our skin cells are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones, how can a bad sunburn turn into cancer YEARS down the line?

Question

if our skin cells are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones, how can a bad sunburn turn into cancer YEARS down the line?

In: 3306

Answer 1

Something I haven’t seen brought up by anyone else yet:

Your skin has different layers, the outermost of which is a mesh of dead skin cells and fats and oils and things, and the living layer deeper down. At the very bottom though is the layer of cells that produces new skin cells, periodically growing, dividing, and pushing the cells above them up as the outer layers fall off. This bottom layer stays in place though, and doesn’t move, just keeps dividing to make new skin cells. So if *these* cells are damaged, they’re going to keep that damage without being pushed upward and dying naturally, and therefore they can turn cancerous far down the line.