Why do you get more freckles when you have been in the sun?

Question: Why do you get more freckles when you have been in the sun?
- Keywords:
  freckles,
  skin,
  sun
Asked by flissboo to Claire, Kate, Matt, Rob, Sam on 24 Jun 2013.
- Kate Husband answered on 24 Jun 2013:
  
  Freckles are concentrations of melanin, which is the pigment in our skin that makes us the colour we are. Exposure to sunlight (specifically the Sun’s UV rays) increases the production of melanin and so gives us freckles or makes us go brown. It depends on your genes whether you are likely to get freckles in the sun or not.
- Matthew Pankhurst answered on 26 Jun 2013:
  
  Yup, it’s our bodies (our skin) way of trying to protect itself. It’s trying to make shade!
- Claire Lee answered on 28 Jun 2013:
  
  Matt – that’s actually a really cool way of thinking about it! 🙂

Question: Why do you get more freckles when you have been in the sun?