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Is indoor tanning safe?
Isn't it true that any sun exposure can cause skin cancer?
What about melanoma skin cancer?
Some doctors say it is caused by tanning.
Are skin cancer rates rising because more people tan
today than in the past?
Is indoor tanning riskier than outdoor tanning?
Every once in a while, a story goes around about a woman who fried
her internal organs from too much tanning. How do you explain that?
I hear that tanning isn't as popular as it used to be. Is this true?
Isn't it true that tanning is just like a cigarette for the skin?
Can't people catch diseases like AIDS and herpes from tanning beds?
After
all, they're both carried in body fluids and people
sweat all over tanning beds.
If all this is true, why do we still hear that any sign of a tan is skin damage?
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Is indoor tanning safe?
We use the term
"smart". Here's why. "Safe" means you can do something
recklessly without hurting yourself. And that's not
what we're teaching. We're teaching the "Golden Rule
if Smart Tanning": sunburn prevention. Our belief is
this: Moderate indoor tanning - for individuals who
can develop a tan - is the smartest way to maximize
the potential benefits and minimize the potential risk
associated with either too much or too little
sunlight.
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Isn't
it true that any sun exposure can cause skin cancer?
Ultraviolet
light-sun exposure has been linked to skin
cancer, but no one knows exactly how. It appears most
likely that sunburn particularly among fair-skinned
people is the biggest factor. So saying UV light
causes skin cancer and therefore should be avoided is
like saying water causes drowning and therefore should
be avoided. You need water in order to live, and you
need ultraviolet light in order to live.
Heredity, diet
and repeated sunburn are the biggest risk factors for
non-melanoma skin cancer. Consider that one 1995 study
that people who followed a low-fat diet had 90 percent
fewer skin cancers. So it's clear that sun exposure
isn't the only factor at work in the development of
skin cancer.
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What
about melanoma skin cancer?
Some doctors say it is caused by tanning.
This rare form
of skin cancer is a mystery. Know this: 17 of the 21
studies ever conducted on this topic have shown no
association between indoor tanning and melanoma. And
it occurs most often in indoor workers than it does on
outdoor workers a fact that would be impossible if the
relationship was straight-forward. Melanoma is most
common in fair-skinned people with a history of
melanoma.
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Are skin cancer rates rising because more people tan
today than in the past?
Actually, skin
care rates rose steadily during the 1900's and society
today spends less time outdoors now than ever before.
Our sun exposure patterns are more-and-more
intermittent, which makes sunburn more likely if one
is not smart about their suncare habits. Remember,
most people worked outdoors until the industrial
revolution in the late 1800's. It could be theorized
that the fact that people don't receive as much
regular sun exposure as they used to which makes them
more susceptible to sunburn when they do go outside
may be linked to the increase in skin cancer now.
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Is indoor tanning riskier than outdoor tanning?
That's
absolutely false. Indoor tanning clients are exposed
to a scientifically controlled dosage of ultraviolet
light carefully formulated to tan skin while
minimizing the risk of sunburn. That kind of control
is virtually impossible outdoors, where variables
such as seasonality, time of day, geography, weather
conditions, altitude and ozone levels make sunburn
much more likely. Because sunburn is the main risk
factor for skin damage, it's actually smarter to tan
indoors in a professional salon that practices smart
tanning.
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Every once in a while, a story goes around about a woman who fried
her internal organs from too much tanning. How do you explain that?
We call that
"The legend of the Roasted Tanner," and the story is
just that - an urban legend. It cant happen.
Ultraviolet light, whether from the outdoor sun or
an indoor tanning unit, does not penetrate past the
skin. You cant even fry an egg in a tanning bed, let
alone fry your internal organs.
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I hear that tanning isn't as popular as it used to be. Is this true?
Actually, that's
not true. More than 28 million Americans tan indoors
and that number increases steadily year after year.
More and more people are tanning for the control,
convenience, speed and pure enjoyment of tanning in a
salon.
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Isn't it true that tanning is just like a cigarette for the skin?
No, and it's a
ridiculous comparison. Smoking subjects your lungs to
unnatural toxins that your body is not designed to
process. Tanning, on the other hand, is the body's
natural reaction to sunlight. The body is designed to
tan, to help prevent it from sunburning. The bode is
not designed to process cigarette smoke. Furthermore,
a smoker's risk of contracting lung cancer is hundreds
of times higher than that of a non-smoker's risk.
That's not the case with those who tan. Most
importantly, there are no known benefits with
cigarette smoking. But research suggest that there may
be many benefits derived from regular, controlled
exposure to ultraviolet light.
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Can't people catch diseases like AIDS and herpes from tanning beds?
After all, they're both carried in body fluids and people
sweat all over tanning beds.
The U.S. Centers
for Disease Control says odds of contacting any virus
from a properly sanitized tanning bed are "extremely
remote." Professional tanning salons sanitize tanning
equipment before every tanning session. What's more,
the HIV virus dies when exposed to oxygen; it would
not survive on a properly sanitized tanning bed
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If all this is true, why do we still hear that any sign of a tan is skin damage?
Money. More
money is made scaring people out of the sun than will
ever be made encouraging people to tan responsibly.
$30 billion in anti-sun products. And the
"anti-tanning lobby" had monopolized the rhetoric on
this issue, distorting the truth and exceeding the
data in an effort to scare people out of the sun. What
they're missing is the fact that there are benefits
associated with UV light exposure and that consumers
know these benefits exist, even if the salons cannot
advertise them.
Sunshine is
free. If sunshine were something that were sold to
consumers, you can bet there would be massive
campaigns pushing sunshine as the elixir of life, and
research into the positive effects of UV light would
receive massive funding instead of the spotty priority
it is given today
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