Let’s get one thing straight: Tanning the skin is damaging the skin. Tanned skin is evidence of damage to the skin at the cellular level and rapidly speeds up aging of the skin. And even worse than that, tanning increases the risk of basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. (One in five Americans will develop skin cancer be the age of 70).*
Now let’s talk statistics on tanning beds specifically:
There is a 75% risk of developing life-threatening melanoma from just one indoor tanning session before the age of 35.
One study observing 63 women diagnosed with melanoma before age 30 found that 61 of them used tanning beds. That’s 97%!
Worldwide, there are more skin cancer cases due to indoor tanning than there are lung cancer cases due to smoking.
All tanning is damaging, but tanning beds are especially brutal to the skin as tanning beds emit roughly 12 times for UVA light than natural sunlight. Just say no. Your older self will thank me!
*Statistics from www.skincancer.org
Pic credit: Judy Cloud from www.self.com