As I jokingly made fun of my pasty white skin, my doctor laughed as she reminded me, “Pale is healthy and healthy is beautiful!” I rolled my eyes as I thought, “yeah, yeah, yeah.” I just wished I could be tanner, as many other girls my age do; but why? Society has been conditioned to believe that the tanner you are, the more beautiful you are. Because of this, many girls and women (and even men) make the decision to tan in tanning beds because they don’t have the time or right weather to tan outside.
Although it may be nice to enjoy the sun-kissed skin for the moment, you have to wonder, what are the long term effects of laying in a “cancer bed”?
Many people are aware that any kind of exposure to UV rays can result in skin cancer. Indoor tanning is no exception to this, but there are also many other effects of long exposure to tanning beds. According to LIVE STRONG, “skin damage from allergic reactions to tanning machine treatments may be limited to a red, itchy rash, but with long exposure on sensitive skin, symptoms may become chronic. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that repeated exposure may cause thick, scaly skin.” Indoor tanning can also cause irreversible eye damage. This information comes from the FDA. This can be common because some people try to avoid facial tan irregularities by not wearing protective eye goggles, which increases the risk for eye injury greatly. It is also likely that skin damage will occur showing physical signs much sooner than those brought on by natural aging. The Skin Cancer Foundation says that harmful UVA rays disrupt your body’s collagen and elastin synthesis, causing wrinkles where collagen is depleted and leathery skin where elastin fails to repair itself.
So is it really worth it? Is the dark skin that everyone seems to desire really worthy of being desirable?
Reference:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/100222-effects-long-exposure-tanning-beds/
This is why I’m okay with having pale-toned skin. I don’t see the benefit of having tan skin other than to meet society’s standards which is not nearly enough motivation for me since society is cynical and judgmental no matter what. Also, any type of sun exposure isn’t good for tattoos. I happen to have a large tattoo and knowing that it could damage/fade quicker than normal if exposed to UV rays is more than enough evidence for me to say “No” to the tanning bed. Here’s an article about tattoos and tanning: http://www.carefair.com/Skincare/Summer-and-Sun/Dealing_with_Tanning_and_Tattoos_5400.html
This is one of the most important things our generation has to learn, in my opinion. I didn’t realize the affects until I went tanning one day. Before going tanning I didn’t have a mole on my chest and after 15 MINUTES i formed a scary mole. This wasn’t my first time going but it made me wake up to the reality of what so many people warned me about. These warnings are absolutely accurate.
These are some frightening statistics for an age that relies so heavily on the tanning bed. I went on the American Academy of Dermatology’s website to see some of these statistics for who is using tanning beds. And it said that “Nearly 70 percent of tanning salon patrons are Caucasian girls and women, primarily aged 16 to 29 years.” That’s crazy to me that so many young women participate in this harmful, irreversible damage at such a young age.