Skip to main content

Tanning Beds & Melanoma


Once the almost exclusive domain of bodybuilders, tanning beds can be found in almost every town in America and are frequently used by men and women of all ages. In fact, their use is on the rise among the younger population, where tans are equated with a healthy, athletic lifestyle. Unfortunately the nearly 30 million people who go to tanning salons are taking risks with their health.

Those risks are numerous and can be life threatening; everything from infections and burns to skin cancer. The latest study, which appears in the June issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, details the increased risk associated with melanoma.

This new study is one of the largest to assess the skin cancer risk that tanning beds pose. It included 1,167 melanoma patients, as well as a control group consisting of age- and gender-matched people. Researchers found an increased risk among users of tanning beds, whether they were high-speed machines (which emit some UVB rays) and high-pressure machines (which emit mostly UVA rays).

Consumers using tanning beds had a 74 percent increased risk for melanoma compared to those who never frequented a tanning salon. And for those who spend more than 50 hours under those indoor UV rays, the risk triples. Even worse, the newer high-pressure tanning beds can increase the risk to four times.

“Although some people think that a tan gives them a ‘healthy’ glow, any tan is a sign of skin damage,” says Sharon Miller, M.S.E.E., a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist and international expert on UV radiation and tanning. “A tan is the skin’s reaction to exposure to UV rays,” says Miller. “Recognizing exposure to the rays as an ‘insult,’ the skin acts in self-defense by producing more melanin, a pigment that darkens the skin. Over time, this damage will lead to prematurely aged skin and, in some cases, skin cancer.”

Since 2003, UV radiation from any source has been listed by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as a known carcinogen (cancer-causing substance). Currently, many government agencies caution against tanning. Yet of the more than 68,000 people in the United States who will learn they have melanoma this year and one out of eight will die from it, according to NCI estimates. In addition, the American Academy of Dermatology reports that melanoma is the second most common cancer in women 20 to 29 years old.

The bottom line is that long-term exposure to UV rays, whether from the sun or a tanning bed, increases the risk of developing skin cancer. However, there are alternatives. Instead of using a tanning bed, the American Cancer Society advises people to use sunless self-tanning creams, lotions or sprays along with regular skin checks by your doctor or dermatologist.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final lunar eclipse of 2010 set for early morning of December 21

Skygazers hoping to catch the last lunar eclipse of 2010 on Tuesday morning best be ready to stay up late (or wake up very early) to watch the full moon as it goes through a range of dramatic color changes. The December 21 lunar eclipse is expected to last about three-and-a-half hours from its start as a partial eclipse at 1:33 a.m. ET to its finish at 5:01 a.m. ET, according to NASA. The previous lunar eclipse occurred June 26 . During a lunar eclipse, the moon, the Earth, and the sun align so that the sun's rays are shielded from the moon. An eclipse of the moon can only take place if the moon is full, and only if the moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow, which is composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The start of the total eclipse is expected around 2:41 a.m, when the entire moon passes through the Earth's umbra, or inner shadow, which blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the moon. The moon will tak...
Post a Comment
Read more

Men With Breast Cancer Face Worse Prognosis

Men who are diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely than female patients to die in the next 15 years, researchers report. "This may be due to a difference in tumor characteristics and treatment," says study leader Hui Miao, a PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore. Male breast cancer is rare, accounting for less than 1% of all breast cancers in the U.S. Given its scarcity, few studies have assessed its prognosis "and we know of no recent studies looking at trends in survival," Miao tells WebMD. So Miao and colleagues studied 459,846 women and 2,664 men diagnosed with breast cancer in Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, and Sweden between 1970 and 2007. Among the findings, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: Men were diagnosed at an older age: 69 vs. 61 for women. Twice as many men had later stage III or IV disease: 18% vs. 9% of women. Only 25% of men were alive 15 years after diagnosis, compared with 44...
Post a Comment
Read more

Permitted non-hormonal performance-enhancing substances

What? Performance enhancers? For decades athletes and non-athletes have been using performance-enhancing drugs/supplements> However most of the time the news  flash comes when a competitive athlete is caught using banned hormonal & non-hormonal substances. They can be broadly classified as: Stimulants Prescription medications Blood buffers Nutritional supplements Energy beverages STIMULANTS They are both physical and cognitive performance enhancers.  Beneficial effects include increase in: Energy level,  Endurance,  Anaerobic performance, r Reaction time,  Concentration, and alertness.  Adverse effects include Headache,  Nausea,  Insomnia,  Anxiety,  Tremor,  Agitation,  Panic attacks,  Hypertension, and tachycardia.  Rarely, stimulants may cause myocardial ischemia, stroke, psychosis, heatstroke, or rhabdomyolysis. While many stimulants (eg, methylhexana...
Post a Comment
Read more