Despite repeated warnings about the health dangers of tanning, results of a new survey by the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that a large percentage of teenage girls and young women are using tanning beds.
Despite repeated warnings about the health dangers of tanning, results of a new survey by the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that a large percentage of teenage girls and young women are using tanning beds.
This applies particularly to Caucasians and puts these individuals at a greater risk for melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.
Melanoma can be fatal and spreads rapidly beneath the skin where you can’t see the cancer’s damage in action.
Melanoma is increasing faster in females 15 to 29 years old than in males of the same age group and more cases of melanomas are developing on the torsos of young women, suggesting a link to high-risk tanning behaviors such as indoor tanning.
Although the tanning industry defends the safety of indoor tanning, federal and global government agencies have declared ultraviolet (UV) radiation from both the sun and artificial light sources as a known carcinogen.
Exposure to UV radiation from any source is the leading risk factor for skin cancer, and the American Academy of Dermatology points to studies indicating that indoor tanning increases a person’s risk of melanoma by 75 percent.
