Category Archives: Medical

Yesterday, we reported that many young individuals, especially women between the ages of 14 and 22, regularly participate in indoor tanning despite understanding the documented health risks.

As previously reported, indoor tanning can lead to as high as a 75% increase in the risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer and a common subject of indoor tanning melanoma studies.

Today, we continue our indoor tanning exposé with additional information revealing that tanning bed use can increase your chances of developing early-onset BCC (basal cell carcinoma) by 69%. The findings come courtesy of a study conducted at New Haven, Connecticut’s Yale School of Public Health.

If you are like many Americans, you may frequent a tanning salon during the fall and winter months as a way of maintaining your summer complexion without access to warm, sunny beaches. Or, perhaps you typically visit the tanning salons during the mid spring months to establish your base tan prior to the upcoming hot summer months. The more important question to ask is why is it that so many individuals tan anyway? Whether it is routinely tanning at a salon, in your backyard, or at the beach, literally millions of people tan each and every year.

In both cases, indoor tanning salons and outdoor tanning will expose the skin to both UVA and UVB rays of light, albeit at different ratios. While there are health and wellness benefits related to exposing the skin to UVA and UVB rays of light, as with virtually everything in life, moderation is the key.