Blog 3

The Danger of Being Bronze

Tanning beds are increasingly becoming more of a problem for all ages; females in their young adult and teenage years are a growing number of tanning bed users ("Indoor Tanning: The Risks of Ultraviolet Rays"). My guess is that young adults, especially the women, want to look a certain way to boost their confidence, and they feel like one way for them to do this is through using a tanning bed. It sounds silly to hear having a tan can affect your confidence, but i know it's true because i used to tan on a daily basis. I was borderline addicted to it, and i felt like i needed to be tan in order to feel good about myself. Thankfully, i opened my eyes and realized that risking my life for tan skin was absolutely ridiculous, and i finally decided to quit. Now that i am as pale as a ghost and quite content with the color of my skin, i believe tanning beds should become illegal for anyone to use, except for those who suffer from a medical condition (like a Vitamin D deficiency) and need ultra-violet (UV) radiation to help better their health, because it is expensive, causes premature aging, and increases your chances of developing a skin cancer.    

Back in the day, i would drop about $50-$60 a month for an unlimited tanning package, not including the tanning lotion, which is about $20-$30, depending on the lotion you buy. That adds up to be somewhere around $70-$90 a month, again depending on what level of tanning you purchase and what lotion you buy. Regardless, that's a lot of money for a young adult to be spending to use a tanning bed. As i stated earlier, much of the tanning population consists of young adults. Think about where young adults typically work and how much money they typically make. It’s not very much, is it? So spending $70-$90 a month on tanning is not only absurd, but it’s unrealistic for the average young adult who makes minimum wage.

Now I want you to think about how much money you're going to be spending on anti-aging products you'll eventually want for your skin to try and reverse some of the damage tanning beds caused it. A good way to preserve money and your skin is to just take care of it while you are young. This means no tanning beds! According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), tanning will cause your skin to lose its elasticity and allow wrinkles to sink in prematurely ("Indoor Tanning: The Risks of Ultraviolet Rays"). I don't know about you, but i certainly don't want my skin looking like leather ever, but especially not in my younger years. Unfortunately, i've already damaged my skin by tanning so much that i'm afraid i will have premature aging later on in my life. On the bright side, you can reduce your risks of premature aging by not tanning, and hey you'll save some money to while you're making this smart decision. 

Though tanning in tanning beds is expensive and causes premature aging, the most important reason why tanning should become illegal is because of the dangerous skin cancers it puts you at risk for. It's quite scary if you think about how much of a risk you put yourself at when you decide to sneak a tanning session in. Common skin cancers associated with tanning in tanning beds include squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma ("Indoor Tanning: The Risks of Ultraviolet Rays"). Below are pictures of the two different types of skin cancers that you can develop from indoor tanning. 

Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Warning Signs

Melanoma
Warning Signs

Neither of them are pleasant and i hope every day that neither one of them ever shows up on my body. Since i tanned pretty regularly when i was younger, i have a higher chance of developing some type of skin cancer in my lifetime. The fact that i have to live with this fear is unfortunate, but if tanning were to become illegal then a person's risks for developing skin cancer would drastically decrease. 

References:

"Indoor Tanning: The Risks Of Ultraviolet Rays." Fda.gov. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.