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

Its not like we have an untouchable entity that manufactures our cells, making sure they’re completely identical forever. If that was the case, cancer would be impossible. What allows sun damage to cause skin cancer is the damaging of our cells’ ability to divide and replenish properly, by going into overdrive. It isn’t that replacing our skin should make us immune to cancer, it’s the very mechanism that allows that replacement that makes us vulnerable to cancer in the first place.