(Wampsville, NY – April 2014) The approach of spring and the upcoming prom season has teens seeking out tanning salons in hopes of improving their image. While many may think a tan looks healthy, studies have shown there are significant health and safety risks associated with tanning. As with natural sunlight, overexposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause eye and skin injury and allergic reactions.
Repeated exposures may cause premature aging of the skin and skin cancer. Overexposure to UV radiation can reduce immunity, making your body less able to fight infection. The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends persons of all ages avoid indoor tanning following the release of a study that found there are more than 419,000 new cases of skin cancer attributed to indoor tanning each year (skincancer.org).
The Madison County Health Department further notes that in response to the widespread use of indoor tanning salons using UV radiation by young people, New York state legislators amended Public Health Law in 2012 to prohibit the use of indoor UV tanning facilities by children less than 17 years of age.
Tanning facility regulations now in effect also require individuals 17 – 18 years of age to obtain written parental consent prior to using UV tanning devices. The Health Department encourages teens and their parents to limit their skin cancer risk by avoiding overexposure to sunlight and indoor UV tanning devices.
A 2014 Mayo Clinic study revealed an alarming rise in melanoma, the most aggressive and lethal type of skin cancer, among people aged 18 to 39. The study indicated that over the past 40 years, rates of this potentially deadly skin cancer grew by 800 percent among young women and 400 percent among young men. The authors also observed that those who tan indoors just four times a year increase their risk of developing melanoma by 11 percent.
The Journal of the American Medical Association-Dermatology observed that the number of skin cancer cases due to tanning is higher than the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking. In the U.S. alone, 419,254 cases of skin cancer can be attributed to indoor tanning. Out of this number, 6,199 are melanoma cases. Additional information on the risks of indoor tanning is available at the Center for Disease Control at cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/indoor_tanning.htm.