As the weather turns colder and the sunlight hours dwindle, more and more Americans flock to indoor tanning salons to get that much desired straight-from-the-beach bronze glow. In fact, nearly 30 million people in the United States tan in salons every year, most of them women between the ages of 16 and 49. But before you start baking under the lights, you might want to consider the numerous health risks associated with tanning bed use.
Let’s begin with infections. If the surface of the tanning bed isn’t cleaned properly or if the towels you use aren’t washed in hot water, you can get infections like pubic lice (crabs) and warts caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV. Tanning beds and exposure to UV rays can have a detrimental effect on your immune system as well because it reduces the activity level of natural killer cells and T cells.
UV exposure is also thought to promote the spread of skin-associated infections because the T cells are suppressed. Dr. Dawn Davis, a dermatologist at the Mayo Clinic, has seen plenty of infections from tanning beds. “It’s very dangerous,” she said. “I’ve seen people come to my office who’ve gotten severe burns and scarring from tanning beds and lots of infections.” The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports an estimated 700 emergency room visits per year are related to tanning salon exposure.
When you don’t use goggles in the tanning bed, your eyes can be severely burned by the intense ultraviolet (UV) rays. You can develop arc eye or flash burns, a painful ocular condition sometimes experienced by welders who fail to use adequate eye protection. UV rays can also cause cataracts and damage the retina of the eye. And every time you expose your skin to UV rays, you increase your risk for developing melanoma; the most deadly form of skin cancer because it spreads easily to other organs and bones through the blood or the lymph system.
One of the biggest risk factors for melanoma is persistent exposure to UV rays, one part of the spectrum of light that reaches the Earth from the sun. The longer ultraviolet rays (UVA), which penetrate deep into the skin, are responsible for tanning and are often associated with allergic reactions, such as a rash. Shorter rays (UVB) penetrate the top layers of skin and are responsible for sunburn. Tanning salons use fluorescent bulbs that emit both UVA and UVB radiation. The amount of UVA radiation emitted in a tanning bed is up to three times more intense than the UVA in natural sunlight, and the UVB intensity in tanning beds approaches that of bright sunlight. So it makes perfect sense that tanning devices, like the sun, would increase skin cancer risk.
“Although some people think that a tan gives them a ‘healthy’ glow, any tan is a sign of skin damage,” says Sharon Miller, M.S.E.E., a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist and international expert on UV radiation and tanning. “A tan is the skin’s reaction to exposure to UV rays,” says Miller. “Recognizing exposure to the rays as an ‘insult,’ the skin acts in self-defense by producing more melanin, a pigment that darkens the skin. Over time, this damage will lead to prematurely aged skin and, in some cases, skin cancer.”
In a recent report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer division of the World Health Organization, classified tanning beds that emit UV radiation as “carcinogenic to humans”—the agency’s highest cancer-risk category, which also includes radon gas, plutonium, radium, tobacco and the hepatitis B virus. Since 1992, the beds had been deemed “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
IARC’s conclusions were based on an analysis of 19 studies conducted over 25 years on indoor tanning and the risk for melanoma. The review found that people who begin using tanning beds before age 35 increase their risk of developing skin cancer 75 percent. Overall, the melanoma risk for anyone who has ever used a tanning bed goes up by 20 percent. Because the development of cancer is a long process that may take decades, IARC recommends banning commercial indoor tanning for those younger than 18 years to protect them from the increased risk for melanoma and other skin cancers. “Young people may not think they are vulnerable to skin cancer,” says Dr. Ron Kaczmarek, and FDA epidemiologist who analyzed the report. “They have difficulty thinking about their own mortality.”
Since 2003, UV radiation from any source has been listed by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as a known carcinogen (cancer-causing substance). Currently, many government agencies caution against tanning. Yet of the more than 68,000 people in the United States who will learn they have melanoma this year and one out of eight will die from it, according to NCI estimates. In addition, the American Academy of Dermatology reports that melanoma is the second most common cancer in women 20 to 29 years old.
The bottom line is that long-term exposure to UV rays, whether from the sun or a tanning bed, increases the risk of developing skin cancer. However, there are alternatives. Instead of using a tanning bed, the American Cancer Society advises people to use sunless self-tanning creams, lotions or sprays along with regular skin checks by your doctor or dermatologist. Dr. Ellen Marmur, chief of the division of dermatologic and cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center suggests, “Go for a 10-minute walk three times a week or eat salmon or tuna or eggs or fortified cereal. You don’t need to use a dangerous habit like a tanning booth.” Marmur, like most other dermatologists, says the message of the IARC report is clear: “What I’m really hoping for is that people will opt out of using tanning beds.”
by - Madeline Ellis/healthnews.com
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