Dr. Jessica Wu: never go to a tanning bed

Beauty Cred on 6 Jun 2007 at 8:49am
Dr. Jessica Wu: never go to a tanning bed

Curious to know how skin care professionals take care of themselves? Here's what celebrity dermatologist Jessica Wu is doing, and not doing to her skin:

Don't wait, start now

“Don’t wait, start now. Don’t wait until you have brown spots to use sunscreen. Don’t wait for five lines to appear across your forehead to start using Botox."

Prevent early

If you start now, it’s easier to maintain your skin’s health and be preventative. It’s easier to keep weight off by not eating that second piece of cake, than by eating it and having to lose the weight."

As for her own skin care regime, Dr. Wu offers, “I have been doing Botox for 12 years, and nasal avial filler for 2 years. I use my own sunscreen moisturizer every day. In the evening, I use Retin-A. I also drink green tea, which internally and topically protects skin against sun damage."

On what she would never do, Dr. Wu says, “I would never go to a tanning bed.
I like the sun, and most dermatologists would never admit that, but I would rather be outside protected in the sun for half an hour, than in a tanning bed. At least in the outdoors you’re getting equal amounts of UVB and UVA. A tanning bed blocks out UVB rays and you may not burn, so you have a false sense of security and it’s much more harmful to your health.”

Comments (5)

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Teri - Aging Fabulous (unregistered guest) 6 Jun 2007
Here is to the Cure!
Julia (unregistered guest) 6 Jun 2007
Commenting for a cure.
Anna L (unregistered guest) 6 Jun 2007
Tanning beds really aren't worth it! It does so much damage in the long run.
rosesanlilacs (1 post) 31 Aug 2007
I really can't understand your logic regarding going outside vs. tanning beds. I remember that when I was 12-16, I would bake in the sun for hours and hours on end. I'd get burnt sometimes, but never really bad. I began to tan indoors after I turned sixteen and I would never go back. When people are outdoors, the cloud cover, ozone layer, and losing track of time causes people serious skin problems. Outdoors is not a controlled environment. Indoor tanning is a completely controlled environment where everytime you go in, you can expect the same results. If you start off slowly, than move up a minute or two, you'll never burn. I'm not saying being in the sun all the time is good. We know it isn't. I'm just saying that I would prefer a controlled environment where I know what to expect than an uncontrolled one--If I'm going to tan at all. Certainly no tanning or spray tanning is better, but if you're going to tan, I would think it would be better to know exactly what to expect.
Brian (unregistered guest) 18 Apr 2008
Not sure how I ran across this and I'm pretty sure the person that last commented about tanning beds will never see this but..... Controlled environments for tanning? Come on. Controlled skin damage, controlled skin cancer? Sounds like someone is in denial. Go visit a dermatologist and get the real facts about tanning in tanning beds and stop living in denial. No matter what the 16 year old working at the tanning salon told you, it's still much worse than being outside. I would encourage everyone to check out the "real" research from Dermatologist rather than going by what the marketing says at the tanning bed.

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