Walking down the beach you see flesh exposed through skimpy bathing suits on girls to shirtless guys playing volleyball, but what they do not realize are the dangers associated with excessive tanning or overexposure to ultraviolet rays.
“Tanning occurs when the skin produces additional pigment (coloring) to protect itself against burn from ultraviolet rays,” says the FDA web site. “Overexposure to these rays can cause eye injury, premature wrinkling of the skin and light-induced skin rashes.”
Not only may wrinkling and injury occur, but excessive exposure to UV rays is also the No. 1 cause of skin cancer, says the American Academy of Dermatologist. The sun emits UVA rays, which are the rays associated with deeper penetrating radiation that causes more damage, as well as UVB rays, which are associated with sunburn.
The sun is not the only way people are getting a tan these days. Forty-seven percent of students surveyed at a Midwestern university had used indoor tanning beds in the last year, says James M. Spencer, M.D., vice chairman of the Department of Dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.
“Tanning in a tanning bed is convenient and quick,” says East Tennessee State University sophomore Tiffany Kelsey. “It not only gives you a tan but serves as a stress reliever, can clear up your skin and helps with back problems.”
Tanning beds release UVA rays that are 10 to 15 times stronger than the sun, Spencer says.
These high exposure levels correspond to an overall UV index of 13, which compares to the average UV index during the summer of 8.5, says the American Academy of Dermatologists.
In addition, because tanning beds do not release IVB rays, the rays from the sun that let you know when you are burning, people tend to stay in tanning beds longer than they should. “When I was burned badly in the tanning bed, it was not as bad as being burned by the natural sun,” said ETSU senior Doug Wilson. “The pain was less severe, but the results of the burn seemed to last longer.”
Most people who tan may not realize that tanning beds can do so much damage, and the ones who do know do not seem to care. Tanning causes premature aging and wrinkles, along with immune system damage, which is more likely to occur in people who repeatedly expose themselves to the sun over a long period of time.
“Artificial tanning produces no health benefits and actually increases a person’s chances of getting cancer from natural sunlight,” according to the American Journal of Public Health.
“In the past three years I have seen young women come in with multiple skin cancers on the body from tanning beds,” said dermatologist Dr. William Schueller.
“Young people think they are invisible and are not going to get anything because they are young.”
This is true with most everything in life. Young people do not want to believe that anything could happen to them, but what they do not know is that the bad stuff comes not at the time you are doing it, but later in life, like 10 to 15 years down the road, he said.
Nevertheless, this startling fact does not affect students’ decision to tan in the tanning bed. “It’s kind of like smoking or drinking,” Kelsey said. “Everyone knows it’s bad but they continue to do it.”
Students also are more likely to overexpose themselves because fewer than half of the states regulate indoor tanning facilities. The FDA, however, does require warning labels on machines about the damage of the UVA rays associated with tanning beds, and also requires tanning facilities to provide goggles to tanners to protect from retinal damage.
But now some tanning facilities have found a way around the regulation, not providing or requiring tanners to wear goggles. “I do not wear goggles even though I own a pair because I do not want goggle marks,” Kelsey said.
Safer ways to get a suntan other than exposing oneself to harmful UV rays would include a sunless spray tanning spray or airbrush tanning, which most tanning facilities offer and make the skin bronze like a real tan.
Other alternatives to tanning beds are sunless or self-tanners that come in lotions that can be rubbed onto the skin.
Most tanning lotions have an active ingredient called dehydroxyacetone, a type of sugar which triggers a tan through a chemical reaction that stains the skin and does not cause an increased creation of melanin.
Melanin is the pigment that gives color to the skin.
“I would recommend using self-tanning lotions because unlike tanning beds, they are harmless,” said sophomore Kristen Townley.
“They give you a nice glow just as long as you blend them in well.”
Neither one of these is damaging to the skin and has been proven to be safe and quite effective.
“By using self-tanning lotions and by avoiding sunlight one can still have a fashionable tan without the risks of aging of the skin and skin cancer,” according to www.docderm.com.
For more information on the effects and regulations of tanning beds, contact the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at www.fda.gov or the American Academy of Dermatologists (AAD) at www.aad.org.

Author