Are you in denial about what happens to your skin when it encounters sun damage? The redness, the pain, the peeling, sunburn blisters- you may think it's just a few days of discomfort and that a sunburn treatment should do the trick, but this is not the case.

The truth is a person's risk for melanoma – the most serious form of skin cancer – doubles if she or he has had five or more sunburns in their life, according to SkinCancer.org (1). To understand why sunburns are so dangerous you need to ask yourself "what is a sunburn?" So let's take a closer look at what happens to your skin when you burn, and why you should always wear a broad spectrum sunscreen.