With spring break travels upon us, many teens and young adults are flocking to the tanning bed salon for some “color” before heading off on their beach vacations. But did you know that doing so can increase your risk of skin cancer by nearly 60 percent?
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, everyone who climbs into an indoor tanning bed faces an increased risk of skin cancer. But that tanning habit can have even more dire consequences for young people. Research shows that using indoor tanning beds before age 35 can increase your risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, by 59 percent, and this risk increases with each use.1
One significant issue of concern is that 45 percent of those who start tanning before age 16 do so with a family member.2 And recent studies found that fathers, parents who had used indoor tanning devices themselves, and those who reported they had never received skin cancer prevention counseling from their child’s doctor were less likely to believe adolescent indoor tanning was harmful.
“While it’s not surprising that parents who have tanned themselves would have favorable attitudes toward their children’s indoor tanning, it’s important for all parents to understand the dangers of tanning at a young age and communicate those dangers to their children,” says board-certified dermatologist Maryam Asgari, MD, MPH, FAAD, an associate professor in the department of dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital and the department of population medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“If you avoid tanning beds, especially when you’re young, you can reduce your risk of skin cancer and early skin aging in the future,” Asgari says.
Notes
1. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, “The Association of Use of Sunbeds with Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma and Other Skin Cancers: A Systematic Review,” International Journal of Cancer 120 (March 1, 2007); M. Boniol et al., “Cutaneous Melanoma Attributable to Sunbed Use: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” British Medical Journal 345 (July 24, 2012): e4757; D. Lazovich et al., “Indoor Tanning and Risk of Melanoma: A Case-Control Study in a Highly Exposed Population,” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 19, no. 6(June 2010): 1557–1568.
2. M. Watson, M. Shoemaker, and K. Baker, “Indoor Tanning Initiation Among Tanners in the United States,” JAMA Dermatology (March 22, 2017). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2016.5898.