Any tan is a sign of skin damage, warns the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A tan results from exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays, forcing the skin to produce more melanin, the pigment that darkens skin. This process can lead to aging of the skin and skin cancer. UV radiation includes UVB rays, which penetrate the top layers of skin to cause sunburn, and UVA rays, which penetrate deeper layers of skin to cause allergic reactions. Both types of rays can cause DNA damage that leads to skin cancer. Lamps used in tanning salons emit both types of radiation, according to the FDA.
Artificial Sunlight
Radiation from the sun and artificial sources, including lamps in tanning salons, increases the risk of developing skin cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Women who use tanning beds more than once a month become 55 percent more likely to develop malignant melanoma, the NCI says. But both men and women increase their risks of developing skin cancer with long-term exposure to artificial sources of UV.
UVA Rays
The UVA radiation in tanning bed bulbs is up to three times more intense than UVA in natural sunlight, reports Dr. Celeste Robb-Nicholson of Harvard Women's Health Watch. Most of the 30 million Americans who use tanning salons each year are women between the ages of 16 and 49 years old.
Revealing Research
Tanning beds are a relatively new industry phenomenon, becoming popular in the United States during the 1970s. Long-term studies on populations soon began showing connections with skin cancer. In a report in the February 6, 2002, issue of the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute", the NCI found that indoor tanning devices were linked to a 50-percent increase in the risk of basal cell carcinoma and more than a 100-percent increase in risks of squamous cell carcinoma.
Highest Risk
Tanning beds are now considered to be in the highest cancer risk category by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a World Health Organization agency. Tanning beds had been classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" but were elevated to "carcinogenic to humans" by the IARC following a review of research that was published in the July 29, 2009 issue of "The Lancet Oncology". The review concludes that tanning beds increase the risk of deadly melanoma skin cancer by 75 percent for people who begin using them before age 30.
Warnings
The IARC report confirms earlier warnings from the American Cancer Society (ACS), which state that tanning bed use "is dangerous to your health and should be avoided," according to Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the ACS. The IARC looked at 19 studies conducted over a 25-year period. The agency went so far as recommending the banning of commercial indoor tanning for people younger than 18 years old because the development of skin cancer is a long process that may take decades.
