Knowing the skin damage that results from prolonged sun exposure needed to achieve the golden tan, many fair-skinned people are staying out of the sun and turning to spray on or sunless lotion tans. These fake tans are skin dyes that do not change or darken skin pigmentation the way the sun might, but do give a temporary look of a glowing tan complexion. Advances have been made to these products so that the olden days of orange palms and streaky uneven lotion marks from sunless lotions are a mere memory, but still, it's not a real tan. What if you could achieve a real tan, a tan where the skin pigmentation actually changes and darkens the same as it would if you spent hours in the sun, without spending hours in the sun exposing yourself to the premature aging, wrinkling and increased skin cancer risk damages of ultraviolet (UV) radiation?
In addition, what if this product, in actually darkening the pigmentation of your skin, provided protection from UV sun damage?
Although still in the experimental stages, scientists are working on just such a lotion, using a plant extract called forskolin, that prompts the pigmentation of the skin to darken. While the efforts are said to be focused on the treatment of individuals with medical pigmentation disorders -- if forskolin proves safe -- could a commercial product using the same compounds that safely promote a darkening of skin pigmentation -- a real tan -- and skin cancer prevention -- be far behind?
