Getting a good tan without moving out of the house is called indoor tanning. More than 1 million people tan in salons every day. Of these, a significant number are teenagers.
What is a tanning apparatus?
To get a good tan, people use tanning beds, booths or sunlamps. A tanning bed, or a sunbed produces tan in the skin of the user by emitting ultraviolet rays. Tanning beds that are used inside the home use lamps of 12 to 28 watts, while in salons 100 to 200 watt lamps numbering 24 to 60 are used.
Ultraviolet rays, or UV for short, from the sun or from the artificial sources like lamps are unsafe and are known to cause cancer in the skin. There are two types of ultraviolet rays that penetrate the skin when the skin is exposed to UV. They are UV-B and UV-A rays. The rays penetrate the skin.
The top layer of the skin is penetrated by UV-B rays, which are responsible for sunburns. The UV-A rays penetrate deeper and affect layers beneath the top. UV-A rays are responsible for allergic reactions like a rash. Both kind of rays damage the skin and may lead to skin cancer.
Tanning devices used at home or in the salon use both these kinds of radiation to tan the skin.
Myths about Tanning Indoors
* People believe that tanning beds are safer than sunlight. But it’s a myth. Both tans are hazardous. Tanning beds operate on a timer, but still emit ultraviolet rays that affect different people in different intensities based on age, type of skin and the kind of lamps that are used.
* Some women use tanning beds to get the initial tan which they think will protect them from an actual sunburn when they go out in the sun. But this is not true. A tan is actually a response to the injury of skin cells which are damaged by exposure to harsh light. They produce more pigment to get protected from the
damage caused by UV.
* Many people have the misguided notion that indoor tanning generates vitamin D in the body, which is entirely wrong. Vitamin D is important, but getting it from tanning beds is hazardous as it creates more problems than solve any. Also, the amount of vitamin D one gets out of exposure to sunlight or artificial light varies from person to person.
High risk of cancer from using tanning beds
* Innumerable studies on the use of tanning beds have shown that use of indoor tanning is directly related to very high skin cancer risks.
* Tanning indoor is very hazardous for people less than 30. It heightens the risk of melanoma which is a deadly cancer.
* People who use tanning may increase the risk of squamous cell carcinoma by 2.5 times more.
* People using tanning beds have 1.5 times more risk of developing basal cell carcinoma.
Other risks in using tanning devices
* Tanning causes premature aging as it causes the skin to lose its elasticity, and therefore the skin wrinkles early.
* UV-B radiation suppress immune system, leaving the skin vulnerable to diseases.
* Irreversible damage is caused to the eyes, by way of exposure to UV radiation from the tanning devices.
* Sensitive skin will develop allergic reactions when exposed to heavy UV radiation.
* According to International Agency for research on Cancer which is part of WHO, tanning devices emit UV rays and are very dangerous and are named as highest cancer risk category.
* National Cancer Institute (NCI) has linked melanoma, the deadliest cancer, to high sunburns which may have come from tanning devices especially at a younger age.
More and more legislation are coming in to ban the tanning devices in many countries all over the world. So the next time you are considering a tanning salon for an easy tan, think again.
– Michelle Tyler is a medical writer who writes well-researched, in-depth cancer articles which provide relevant information to help patients combat the deadly disease. Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) prides in providing the best cancer treatment solutions to patients who have endured to various cancer types. With cancer centers in Philadelphia, Tulsa, Chicago, Newnan etc., CTCA aims at providing the best treatment options to cancer patients.