• Question: Why do we have freckles? Why do they grow? What are they for? :)

    Asked by 1c9a9m7m to Donna, Jo, Mark, Stuart, timcraggs on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Freckles are cells that contain melanin to protect the cells from the sun – they get larger in sunny weather.
      Not everyone has freckles – but those who do are ususally more likely to get sun burn

    • Photo: Joanna Buckley

      Joanna Buckley answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Do you have freckles, 1c9a9m7m? I do when it’s summer.

      They’re areas of concentrated melanin, which is a brown pigmentation. It’s genetic and their form and get darker after exposure to sunlight.

    • Photo: Tim Craggs

      Tim Craggs answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Freckles are areas of skin with a high concentration of melanin pigment, this is the same pigment that makes you go brown in the sun.

      We go brown to protect our cells from harmful UV radiation that could cause mutations in our DNA. So freckles are part of the barrier used by the body to protect it from the sun.

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