Tanning Beds

Tanning Beds

Tanning Beds: The Dark Truth Looking in magazines or watching television anyone can see that the latest trend is to have a dark golden tan, even in the winter. Tanning beds are used by people to tan all year around; men and women are no longer forced to schedule around the weather nor are they restricted by the time of day. Indoor tanning parlors have been used for years, but only within the last few years have scientists and doctors found their true dangers. Tanning beds are detrimental to the health of all users, illogical to use, and there are safer alternatives available. Tanning beds should be banned from use due to the harm they cause the uneducated people in society that use these beds. Tanning beds are hazardous to one's health for many reasons. First, when a person is outside he or she is exposed to UVB and UVA light rays. It is true that these rays are also dangerous, but not as bad as when one is lying in the tanning bed. The UVB rays are know as "the burning rays" and the UVA are known as the "the tanning rays" (Smoots ). Even though these natural sunrays are dangerous, they are not as concentrated as when in a tanning bed.

Tanning beds use only the UVA light, which, according to Dr. Amonette in Fake and Bake, "[tanning beds' light rays] attack the blood vessels deeper in the skin, making them change color instead of the skin's pigment cells" . When the deeper blood vessels change color, that causes harm to the underlying tissue and can lead to melanoma, which is the most serious type of skin cancer (Munson, Yeykal ).Other types of cancer caused by tanning beds are basal cell and squamous cell. Both can be fatal if not detected and treated early. The UVA light rays cause the cancer cells to reproduce even faster than they normally would. Because of the rapid change in the tissue due to the tanning bed, one's immune system is weakened and is less likely to fight off any infection. The tanner then most always feels sick, it takes longer for him or her to get over an infection, and he or she most always feels tired.

Tanning beds also cause eye problems. In Modern Medicine, Indoor Tanning Is Just as Dangerous as Outdoor Tanning, Rex Amonette and James Spencer, whom both are doctors state that, "acute corneal burns, conjuctival thickening after repeated and prolonged exposure, and eventually, cataract formation" are caused from the bulbs in a tanning bed. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) made it a law that there be goggles available to the customers in tanning parlors. Simply shutting ones eyes or wearing sunglass is not enough (1). The problem with the goggles is that most tanners do not wear them because they create white rings around the eye area.

Tanning in tanning beds also makes the skin leathery, wrinkled, and saggy, this process is known as photo-aging. This means that when a person is about 30 years old he or she will look as if they are much older. Most tanners say that the number one reason to tan is to have that golden look that they see on television and see in magazines and to be beautiful, but the dangers that one subjects his or herself to is not worth the dark color of skin. Gutfeld and Sangiorgio have compared tanning to smoking cigarettes in their article Fake and Bake, the only difference is that tanning effects the entire body and not just in the lungs and mouth.

Only in the last five or six years have doctors discovered the dangers of the UVA light discharged from the bulbs in the beds as being so dangerous (Munson and Yeykal ). The people that have been tanning for years are addicted, almost like a drug addiction, and have not been aware of the detrimental health problems they have gotten themselves into when they first started tanning. Customers are often told that artificial tanning is safe, which is not true. Tanning in a tanning bed is not worth the health of an individual just for a temporary tan that will fade over time.

Furthermore, tanning is also illogical. Not only is it unhealthy, it is expensive, and it is not the same as a natural tan. Here in Tennessee at a local tanning booth, it costs $30 a month, and that is the most inexpensive indoor tanning parlor around. The prices range all over the country; it even gets into the hundreds of dollars to tan just for one month. Some tanners say that they are just tanning to get a good Ð''base' tan for the summer time so they do not burn as badly. A base tan would best be described as the golden skin color that one gets from tanning in general. Well, getting a base tan from the tanning bed does not prevent sunburns because the tans are not the same. Dr. Amonette states, "Natural sunlight activates the melanin in your skin. Tanning beds attack the vessels deeper in the skin . . ." (Gutfeld and Sangiorio ).

Even after tanning in the beds and getting the so-called base tan the individual is not protected from the sun's burning power. When the tanner is in the sun for a substantial amount of time he or she may still get a sun burn underneath the skin's first couple of layers. The big problem with this is the tanner will not be able to see the burn and stay in the sun longer, and sadly even more damage is done to the underlying tissue.

So the ridiculous aspect of tanning is the price one pays for minutes in the deathbed are not worth the price the individual pays in their health in the long run. Also, there are safer alternatives to tanning besides lying in a tanning bed. For example, on the market today there are many self-tanning lotions and sprays that one can apply to his or her body. The results are the same; the individual still gets the same dark golden tan as he or she would get by lying in the tanning bed, but the dangers, such as skin cancer and eye problems are not included in the bottle. Some say that the self-tanners are not as long lasting as the tanning bed tans. This is true, but only by a day or so. The tanner that tans in an indoor parlor has to go to the tanning bed almost every day or every other day to keep the dark tan. The same is true with the self-tanner, it has to be reapplied every couple of days to keep the color from fading. Dr. Amonette