The application that tells you how long you can expose yourself to the sun without burning your skin

It is well known that sunlight can burn your skin, but who has not been able to expose more than necessary to the sun and end up burning, regretting the next day the lack of caution?

If you are one of those who takes unnecessary risks when it comes to sunbathing, technology can become your ally.

A group of dermatology experts from the Sana Leather Foundation of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) has created a mobile application so that people can expose themselves to the rays without burning.

The application, which have been called UV-Derma and is free, aims to promote healthy habits against the harmful effects of excess solar exposure.

"The Burns end up passing bill always, either generating pain, premature aging or other more feared problems like skin cancer," they say from the organization.

But how can the mobile know if you burned the skin?

Algorithms against the Sun

The key is in the algorithms that combine geographic, meteorological and dermatological information in a way that tells you how long you can be in the sun without damaging your skin by taking as a reference the place where you are, how strong the Rays and your skin type are.

Of course, the app-available on Android phones and iOS-can not prevent you from burning if you ignore their warnings, but gives you the information you need to put the umbrella in time.

On the one hand, it offers real-time weather information about ultraviolet radiation levels right where you're sunbathing.

On the other hand, it provides photoprotection advice according to the different cutaneous phototypes, i.e. the ability of the skin to respond to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

"The sun is beneficial for health, but it is solar overexposure that carries a high risk of permanently injuring the skin," says María Victoria de Gálvez, dermatologist of the Aedv and the University of Malaga and one of the specialists who developed the application.

"Through the platform they want to inform the population about these risks and provide the basic recommendations for the solar exposure to be adequate."

José Aguilera, biologist at the University of Malaga, says that "the goal is to create awareness, make photoprotection a habit not only for the day we go to the beach, but for everyday."