What types of people run health risks from overexposure to the sun?

Ask this question and many health professionals will say fair-skinned people with red or blond hair and light-colored eyes.

People with skin diseases such as scleroderma and autoimmune diseases such as lupus must also limit their exposure to the sun, said Dr. Hattie Faison, a physician at University Health Services.

Fair-skinned people run a higher risk for skin cancer because they have less melanin, or skin pigment, which protects the skin from ultraviolet rays, Faison said. They are also more likely to get sunburned rather than tan.

For this reason, Faison advises fair-skinned people to limit their sun exposure.

"If you're out there for a tan and you don't get anything but red, what's the purpose?" she asked.

But most young people, even those with fair skin, do not care yet about damaging their skin, said Vivian Greene, graduate coordinator of the Student Health Resource Center.

"It's still considered very sexy to have a deep, dark tan," Greene said. "It hasn't hit young people yet. But wait till you turn 30, or even 25, and you start to see little wrinkles."

Ginny Clickner, field coordinator for the American Cancer Society, agreed, saying, "The results of being out in the sun have a cumulative effect."

Fair-skinned people are also more likely to get severe sunburns, and a few bad burns in a person's teens or twenties also increase the eventual damage to the skin and the chances of skin cancer later in life, according to the cancer society.

Greene said when she was 15, she once used baby oil when she was out in the sun and ended up with second degree burns and permanent freckles all over her back.

"I'll never do that again," she said.

People with scleroderma or lupus can also suffer skin or internal tissue damage from being in the sun too long, Faison said.

Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease, which is often characterized by skin changes or severe, painful tightening of the skin, she said.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which a person's immune system attacks the body. There are several forms of lupus, some of which are characterized by skin lesions, Faison said.

"For people with either of these diseases, excessive sun exacerbates their disease process," Faison said.

"But that doesn't mean they can't be exposed to any sun," she added. "Just a shorter period of time in the sun than most people."