Indoor tanning can cause skin cancers including melanoma (the most fatal type of skin cancer), basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation also can cause cataracts and cancers of the eye (ocular melanoma).
The use of indoor tanning exposes you to two types of UV rays, UVA and UVB. These rays induce skin damage that can lead to cancer. Indoor tanning is particularly dangerous for younger users; people who begin indoor tanning during adolescence or early adulthood have a higher risk of getting melanoma. All types of UV radiation, whether from the sun or from a solarium, can damage your skin and increase your risk of developing skin cancer. The mere fact that your skin is exposed to more UV radiation places you at a greater your risk of developing skin cancer – regardless of your type of skin.
Indoor tanning has also been identified as a risk factor for the following adverse events:
• premature skin aging, like wrinkles and age spots.
• changes your skin texture.
• risk of potentially blinding eye diseases, if eye protection is not used.
Natural UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface consists of approximately 95% UVA and 5% UVB radiation. Tanning booths use different types of sunbeds, some emitting more, some emitting less UVB as compared to UVA. In the past, the trend was to reduce UVB while in parallel increasing UVA. This was based on the observation that excessively UVB-rich sunbeds easily cause intermittent overexposures and risks of acute sunburns with a possible increased melanoma risk. On the other hand, excessive UVA exposure has lately become suspicious as a possible melanoma risk factor in the scientific and regulatory community. Many sunbed manufacturers are now returning to relative amounts of UVA and UVB that mimic the natural composition in sunlight.
Sunbeds mainly emit UVA radiation which activates the melanin pigment (produced by specialized cells, melanocytes, found in the upper skin cells). This immediate tan begins to fade within a few hours after discontinuation of exposure, but can persist with sufficient and persistent exposure. The small amounts of UVB emitted by sunbeds induce the so-called delayed tanning reaction, where new melanin is produced and distributed between the upper skin cells.
More and more people are resorting to the use of sunbeds for whole-body tanning and to tan beyond their normal complexion. This forced tanning is associated with DNA damage in melanocytes. In individuals with a naturally darker skin tone, relatively little DNA damage is sufficient to bring about the extra-tanning effect, whereas forced tanning in fair-skinned individuals is associated with a substantial degree DNA damage. It is mainly fair-skinned people who are keen to darken their complexion.
Sunbeds are not as successful in producing a tan as most people believe they do. A recent survey in the UK reported that only 2/3 of the regular sunbed users interviewed had achieved moderate tanning, while 1/3 had gained a mild tan; some also reported patchy tanning.
• A meta-analysis (a research study that looks at data from other studies) by Boniol and colleagues in 2012 combined findings from studies conducted in Europe, Australia, and the United States. The meta-analysis shows a link between indoor tanning and melanoma.
• Another meta-analysis published in 2014 by Colantonio and colleagues reconfirmed the association between indoor tanning and melanoma, and also found that newer tanning beds were not safer than older models.
• A 2014 study by Wehner and colleagues estimated that more than 400,000 cases of skin cancer may be related to indoor tanning in the United States each year—causing 245,000 basal cell carcinomas, 168,000 squamous cell carcinomas, and 6,000 melanomas.
• A 2010 study by Lazovich and colleagues in the United States found that the risk of getting melanoma increased the more years, hours, or sessions spent indoor tanning.
•
they are being banned in Europe, in the states they are banned for the under 18 and they make you sign a form before using them saying it is linked to skin cancer and that you discharge them of the responsibility if you develop a skin cancer...are you still tempted to use them? please think twice. ever since I ve returned from France I have been shocked by the number of skin cancers I m discovering, wether melanoma or non melanoma type, including in patients in their 30s. and I m convinced that this bad habit of using solarium has to do with it
•
