14 DAY TRIAL // Having a healthy, glowing, bronzed look throughout the year has become, for many women, a top priority. When holidaying to sunny locations to achieve it is not possible, most of them choose tanning beds or, to a lesser extent, spray tans, without even realizing the kind of dangers they are exposing themselves to with the former, health experts say.
In the UK alone, for instance, the number of cases of skin cancer has increased considerably over the past year, and it’s all because women under 35 (or even girls as young as 12) are going to the salon to get an artificial tan. Because there are so many sunbeds that can be operated with coins and no kind of supervision, working on one’s tan has also become widely accessible, despite the law that prohibits under 16s to use them.
“Spending too much time on sunbeds is just as dangerous as staying out too long in the sun. Sunbeds don’t offer a safe way to tan. The intensity of UV rays in some sunbeds can be more than ten times stronger than the midday sun. Excessive exposure to UV damages the DNA in skin cells, which increases the risk of skin cancer and makes skin age faster. But, importantly, if people take care not to burn in the sun and don’t use sunbeds, the majority of malignant melanoma could be prevented.” Caroline Cerny, SunSmart campaign manager at Cancer Research UK, says for the Daily Mail.
Tan-binging alone is responsible for the boost in skin cancer cases, because most women who get on the sunbed to work on their tan are not even aware of what the strong UV rays are doing to their skin. The many cases of British girls who have recently stepped up to talk about their own experiences and how they have damaged their health for life with excessive fake tanning (some of them even going to the salon twice a day, despite the fact that they knew it was well above the maximum allowed daily time), only come to reinforce the proposal that sunbeds be banned or, at least, have their uses better regulated.
“It is extremely worrying to see that so many young girls are using sunbeds. Young skin is delicate and so easily damaged by the sun. Damage from UV builds up over time. Every time young people use a sunbed, they are harming their skin and increasing their risk of cancer.” Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, also points out for the aforementioned publication.