Tanning Beds

Tanning Beds

Have you ever seen commercials on television advertising allergy medications? The advertisement states that taking the medication can cause abnormal sleep patterns, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, itching, watery eyes, rashes, and headaches. A conclusion could be made that the side effects of the product would be much worse than the allergy problem. However, people still purchase the product. The lengths an average person will go in order to get a quick fix is amazing. It is this way of thinking that makes tanning beds so popular. Over the last decade, cancer causing tanning beds have given self-image issues to people across the world.

First of all, the history off the tanning bed did not start when tan skin was hip. The first indoor tanning lamp was created for medicinal purposes in 1906. It was used on ricketts patients to help them develop stronger bones .# How does a tanning bed create stronger bones? Sunlight produces vitamin D in the body, which allows absorption of calcium. The absorption of calcium creates stronger bones. This tanning lamp was not thought about again until the 1970s, when a man named Friederich Wolff came along. Wolff used “artificially produced indoor tanning UV light to study athletes and how they

might benefit from more exposure to sunlight.”# The artificial indoor light also gave the

subjects of his study a darker complexion. In the fifties, the invention of the bikini popularized tanning outdoors significantly.# This trend still remained in the seventies. This knowledge lead Wolff to market the first indoor tanning beds in Europe and later in America.# This is where the tanning bed industry began. Over the years, tanning

beds have advanced. Technology has enabled tanning beds to obtain features like air conditioning and radios.# Today tanning salons are a $5 billion a year industry.#

According to Dermatology Nursing magazine, the intensity of the UV light emission has decreased over the past thirty years, but the desire to be tan has skyrocketed.# On an average day, one million Americans visit tanning salons. 92% of these people say that they understand that tanning is dangerous, but they think they look better with a tan.# The conclusion of these statistics is that Americans are associating tan with beauty. In 2004, presidential debate watchers were shocked to see John Kerry take the podium sporting a mystic (spray-on) tan.# The tan trend is taking over all generations, not just the young women of America. This fad has not always been so

phenomenal. One hundred years ago, a woman’s porcelain white skin was a sign of

wealth and beauty.# “In the 16th century, pale was not only interesting, but was the only way to be seen. If one had the slightest hint of a tan, he or she was frowned upon for looking like a peasant. So women, including Elizabeth I (1533-1603), would smother their faces in chalky dusts and powders and add egg white for a smooth, satin finish.”# It is odd how a trend can go from one extreme to another.

Tans will not last forever, but the damage to the skin will. “The sunburns you have as a child increase your risk of cancer and having five or more sunburns in a lifetime doubles your risks of skin cancer. Skin cancer can develop on parts of the body that are not even exposed to the sun.”# Tanning salon goers who never develop cancer can increase their children’s risk of developing it.# During tanning, the skin is damaged, but so is your DNA. This damaged DNA is now more likely to produce cancer.# Many women feel a tan makes them appear more youthful.# After years of tanning, people grow more wrinkled, blotchy, and covered with moles. Wrinkled, blotchy, and covered with moles is not the perfect tan image society lingers for.# However, the tan itself gives people a positive self-image according to Dr. Mark Naylor of University of

Oklahoma’s Health Science Center and that is the main reason people use tanning beds despite knowing the risk.#

What will make people stop going to tanning salons? Alternative methods like

spray on tans and sunless tanning lotions have hit the market in recent years. They have become very popular because they are a lot less time consuming, show results instantly, and are not hazardous to the body.# Increased knowledge about the danger of tanning beds has also cut tanning bed use.# One skin cancer survivor, Michelle Hoard, who used tanning beds for many years had the following story to share after entering a tanning salon in 2003. “I walked in and asked the guy at the front desk about a spray on tan, and he recommended that I tan for ten minutes in a tanning bed before trying the spray,” recalled Hoard. “I can’t tan; I’m a melanoma survivor.” His response shocked her. “No worries-the tanning beds are good for you because they contain UVA rays which reduce your risk of skin cancer.”# Hoard was appalled at the tanning salon attendants answer because it was completely false. UVA rays are relatively weak rays, but they penetrate deep