Here is a very important thing about tanning booths, if you go to a tanning booth and tan in there for ten minutes between one and ten times in a calendar year, your risk of malignant melanoma goes up 400 percent. If you go between ten and 20 times in a calendar year, your risk of developing malignant melanoma goes up 800 percent. You’re basically buying yourself malignant melanoma going to a tanning booth.
When they say non UVA, non UVB, non ultraviolet tanning booth, blah blah blah, that’s just senseless. The reason you tan is your skin perceives a harmful stimulus coming, a harmful radiation that it changes color to protect itself from. The melanin activation is in response to injury, a radiation photon injury. That’s what it’s for. There aren’t any of those different flavors, if you will, of tanning rays not associated with developing cancer.
Young people go in there now. You think of these kids 14, 15 years old going to tanning booths, and they are so dark, and it’s so important to them. If you start at 15 and go regularly until you are like 25, it’s just a matter of time before you develop a malignant melanoma. That’s a bad actor! Malignant melanoma is very bad.
I don’t know why parents get so adamant about other things but they don’t care about tanning booths and malignant melanoma, because it’s such a sure thing.
Contributed by Dr. Virginia Stevens
unregistered guest
26 Feb 2007
This articles should be sent to all 14 and 15 year old kids out there oblivious of the sun's dangerous UV rays.
unregistered guest
25 Mar 2008
Thank you so much amb for your comment...it just amazes me how stupid people are these days!!!! Tanning is the bodies natural process to prevent skin damage not create it! I was reading an article just the other day about how people who had recieved ultra violet radiation prior to being diagnosed with skin cancer had a much better survival rate then those with less uvr exposure. So it seems that tanning could actually save your life rather then causing skin cancer. Plus these days anything can cause skin cancer!!lol I've read somewhere that cell phones can cause cancer in the ear but you don't see nobody talking about that or putting down there cell phones!!
unregistered guest
5 Apr 2008
The article is well written and based upon the best science to date. You have at least a 1 in 3 chance of developing skin cancer. Why make it worse by submitted yourself to a known carcinogen?
1 post
8 May 2008
I thought the article was informative. The article was not against sun exposure, it was against tanning booths. Sun exposure is certainly necessary for a healthy life style and tanning doesn't have to take place in order to get its benefits...ever heard of sun screen?
unregistered guest
18 Jan 2009
To those of you who feel that tanning beds don't increase and possiably cause cancer are very misinformed. The radiation released from a tanning booth is 2 to 3 times more powerful than the sun. Tanning bed are nothing but a cosmetic waste of money. Sunscreen was invented strictly to protect your skin, and no it's not perfect, but you realize when you go into a tanning booth, you are cooking yourself, ruining your skin, hurting your immune system, and increase your chances for eye problems. Even in moderation tanning is bad.
1 post
21 Mar 2009
This article is one-sided, stubborn, and whiny. It has no resources or evidence to back up claims. I'm not saying they are completely wrong, just saying that it is POORLY WRITTEN ( adressing "sir"), expecially because it was supposed to be written by a doctor. I mean what is with your third paragraph? But anyway, there are both positives and negatives to tanning, just as there is with being exposed to the sun. I quote a below cited article when I say "early results of tanning include a decrease in blood pressure, lowers resting heart rate, increase cardiac output, increased energy and endurance, increased muscular strength, lowers blood cholesterol, increased resistance to infections, increased oxygen capacity of blood, increase tolerance to stress, increase adrenaline in tissues, increase sex hormones, increase the skin's resistance to infections and reduces the symptoms of PMS. http://media.www.hartfordinformer.com/media/storage/paper146/news/2002/02/28/News/The-Positives.And.Negatives.Of.Tanning-193874.shtml But still, it is true that tanning can result in negative long term effects such as wrinkly skin and skin cancers. I do not agree with the exageration tha you're "buying yourself" malignant melanoma. And the generalization on those young people...ugh so old. Unsafe tanning habits like not wearing proper eyewear may cause retinal damage or even cataracts. If someone is going tanning who has fair skin or burns easilly, yes, they may not be happy with short term (burns) or long term results(risk for cancer). I think people should also keep in mind the fact that skin cancer can be hereditary. Oh yes, and this article is about tanning "booths" correct? So the word "sun" does not need to be argued for or sgainst. Just let the sun shine people. Oh yea and Samantha, thanks for giving me a little laugh about the whole cell phone deal. I can't even stoop low enough to contradict you on that one. Oh also, I enjoy hearing this risk comparison: More people die from car accidents than from tanning salon caused skin cancer. But thats not the point. The point is, that those of you (who some of are definitly age discriminators against teens-meaning you think "those young people" are ignorant and all the same) who are passionately against tanning are on one extreme. Then those of you who believe tanning is safe and doesn't harm you at all on are the other extreme. Whatever, we'll see what happens, but all I know is that sunscreen wasn't invented when some of you were living in the sunshine so I think those of us who were forced to put it on by our mothers can afford some more light in our system. I think I'm going tanning tommorow...lol (that means laugh out loud btw. oh and that means by the way.) Hey, if there is some hardcore shutdowns of tanning booths and people start getting serious, I'll listen. But they still need to make smoking or tobacco illegal first before we get get all anti-tanning booth.