As the cooler weather starts to roll in, we know many of us will be losing our Summer tans. While you may be sad to see your color go, we recommend you use a “sunless tanner” if you want to stay “glowing.” Skip the tanning bed! Tanning, including tanning beds, poses a great risk to your health and increased chance of developing skin cancer.
Do you know these facts about indoor tanning?
- Tanning beds are not safer than traditional tanning outdoors. Indoor tanning can increase the risk of developing the two most common types of skin cancer — squamous cell carcinoma by 58% and basal cell carcinoma by 24%.
- You can get sunburnt in a tanning bed. Research shows it only takes one blistering sunburn during childhood or adolescence to nearly double a person’s risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, later in life.
- Tanning—whether indoors or in the sun—accelerates skin aging. Wrinkles, age spots, and reduced skin firmness often appear much earlier in those who tan. Additionally, tanning can lead to leathery skin, a condition not typically seen in those who avoid tanning altogether.
- Tanning beds pose risks outside of skin cancer. Across the United States, emergency rooms treat people for burns, loss of consciousness, and eye injuries resulting from indoor tanning.
- Indoor tanning can be addictive. Recent studies of “tanning addiction,” a compulsive drive to frequently use indoor tanning beds, suggest that a sizeable proportion of young adults who tan have symptoms indicative of addiction (Mosher and Danoff-Burg, 2010a, Nolan et al., 2009, Petit et al., 2014).
- Tanning salons have been recorded to lie to patrons about the risks of indoor tanning. According to SkinCancer.org, giving customers “false and misleading information” has been a common practice at tanning salons. A study run by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce made a startling discovery. During this study, staff at tanning salons were asked questions about the risks of indoor tanning. Investigators found that 90% of staff at tanning salons said indoor tanning is not a health risk for a fair-skinned teenage girl. Many staff at tanning salons even said that tanning has health benefits.
The information presented in this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. If you have questions or concerns, please call our office or make an appointment with a medical professional. Savannah River Dermatology is located at 575 Furys Ferry Rd in Augusta, Ga. Our office can be reached at 706-691-7079.
