Increased use of tanning beds plays a role in growing rate of skin cancer.
Just say No!

As winter temperatures dip below zero in many locales and travel opportunities diminish due to a faltering economy and terrorism fears, tanning salons can seem both affordable and alluring.

And zealous and intrepid salons certainly try to tempt us with hard-to-resist packages such as unlimited tanning for a low monthly fee and uber-cool tanning beds with names like "The silver bullet" that promise to bronze your whole body in 15 minutes. Some tanning-bed advocates have switched gears and now promote the health benefits of tanning due to increased vitamin D exposure. They contend that it helps prevent osteoporosis and some forms of cancer. (Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because it comes from the sun.)

But save your money and your health, says a new study. Such tanning beds may give you more than a fast all-over tan, they can also up your risk of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. The new study appears in the Jan. 19 issue of the journal Pigment Cell Research.

One of the biggest risk factors for melanoma is chronic exposure to ultraviolet rays, primarily through tanning under the sun or in a tanning bed. The tanning properties of sun beds come from their ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation, both of which are found in the sun's rays. So it makes perfect sense that tanning beds, like the sun, would up skin cancer risk. Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer because it spreads easily to other organs and bones through the blood or the lymph system.

Study researcher Professor Antony Young of King's College London concludes that the continuing and widespread use of sun beds is likely to result in increased numbers of people with malignant melanoma. There is a good case for restricting sun bed use to those of 18 years of age and above, he suggests.

Perhaps dovetailing with the increased use of tanning beds, melanoma is becoming increasingly and alarmingly more common, moving from the No. 6 slot in 1997, to a projected No. 1 by the year 2022.

Where's the disconnect

Despite mounting evidence about the health risks of tanning beds, another new study shows that more than one-third of teenage girls have gone tanning at least once, say researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals in Cleveland. According to the study, 37% of girls have used an indoor tanning facility at least once and almost 30% of girls have used a tanning booth three or more times.

On an average day in the United States, more than 1 million people visit tanning salons, according to information from the Schaumburg, Ill.-based American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

More than melanoma

Along with melanoma, the use of tanning devices may also contribute to the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Dartmouth researchers report that people who used a tanning device were 2.5-times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, and 1.5-times more susceptible to squamous cell carcinoma. The tanning-bed users had risks higher than those who had previous sun exposure, but had not been under artificial lamps.

Although the results were not statistically significant, the researchers also found that, among artificial tanners, those who started at an early age are even more likely to develop skin cancer.

It's more than just cancer. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports an estimated 700 emergency department visits per year related to tanning salon exposure. And tanning bed use is known to more rapidly age the skin.

An ounce of prevention

To prevent melanoma, the AAD recommends avoiding sun exposure from 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. when the sun is the strongest, wearing a broad-spectrum sunscreen such as DERMAdoctor Body Guard Exquisitely Light SPF 30 For Face & Body and reapplying it frequently as well as wearing a hat, and clothing with a tight weave that will block ultraviolet light.

The AAD also recommends monthly self-exams to look for irregular lesions that are growing and changing. Know your ABCD's, the group states.

Look for moles with:
Asymmetry or moles where one half is different than another.
Border Irregularity meaning that the edge of melanomas are usually ragged and jagged.
Color as melanomas often has a variety of colors within the same mole.
And Diameter as melanomas continue to grow.

And keep a close watch. Researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City found that using detailed photographs of the skin and moles can help keep a close watch on suspicious moles. (Remember your ABC's, a change in a mole can be a warnings sign of melanoma.)

Researchers took pictures of 50 patients backs, chests and abdomens. Then they used eyeliner to alter the shape of some moles or add fake ones on the patients. When the patients used the pictures as a reference, they scored 10 percent higher in discovering the moles that had changed then when they checked themselves without pictures. Talk to your doctor to see if photographs may help you.

Still want a healthy glow without sun? try California North Titanium Self Tanner - 8 oz bottle, Peter Thomas Roth Natural Looking Self-Tanner and Cellex-C Bio-Tan Sunless Tanning Gel.

Denise Mann
DERMAdoctor Staff Writer

(Any topic discussed in this article is not intended as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, please check with your doctor.)

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