Students at Exeter College are to see at first-hand the effect of sun damage on their skin, thanks to NHS Devon's award winning campaign to encourage young people to love their skin.

As part of the 'love your skin' campaign beauty students at the college will offer other students a free skin consultation with an ultraviolet (UV) facial scanner.

It clearly shows brown spots, freckles and redness, which can occur as a result of overexposure to UV rays even from an early age.

The campaign was piloted last year at the college and it has already changed many students' attitude and habits in the sun.

Devon has the fourth highest incidence rates of malignant melanoma in the country, due partly to its high number of sunshine hours, an older population than the national average and a high percentage of the population of white ethnicity (people with fair skin are at higher risk of the disease).

There are about 250 cases of malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, and 40 related deaths each year in Devon. About 2,100 people in the county are diagnosed each year with other types of skin cancer.

Overexposure to UV rays can lead to premature ageing, including wrinkles and coarse, leathery skin, or worse, skin cancer.

The sessions will take place between 12.15pm and 1.15pm across Exeter College's student sites – at the Hele Road site on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, the Victoria House site in Queen Street on Wednesday, the automotive workshops on Marsh Barton on Wednesday and Construction Training Centre at Sowton on Friday.

Natasha Stanbury 19 fromOkehampton, beauty therapy student at the college said “I think it may shock some people to see how much damage they may have done to their skin, as I know plenty of my friends that have used sun beds and have burnt in the sun without realising the dangers”

Leah Rogers 17 from Okehampton, another beauty therapy student said “It will be interesting to see the common areas affected by sun damage and the reaction of people when they look at their skin under the UV scanners; I was fascinated when I looked at my skin under the UV scanner during our training session.”

“We're really pleased to be involved in this project again” said Tracey Bennett, Beauty Therapy lecturer and co-ordinator of the project “The Beauty Therapy students are able to see how their work can affect the whole of the college. This is such an important issue and is just one of the many ways the college helps to support and educate students about their health and wellbeing.”

Hannah Litten 18 from Exmouth said “Hopefully by doing these workshops it will make teenagers more aware of the dangers of sun bathing and encourage them to use alternative tanning methods, and to use the correct sun protection for their skin”.

Dr Virginia Pearson, NHS Devon's director of public health, said:

“We are pleased that Exeter College is taking part in the award winning 'love your skin' campaign.

“We know that young people are more likely to respond to warnings about their appearance than their health.

“I would encourage people of all ages to embrace their own skin type – it's not worth burning to get a tan.

“We all enjoy the sunshine – it makes us feel happy and helps us get enough vitamin D. But little and often is best, and you would never need to burn to get enough.”