Tanning Parlors????????

[Annam26]

I'm very fair skinned, and I have never gotten a tan. I'm in my late thirties, and don't have any wrinkles.

A lot of people think I'm still a teen-ager

As for how "good" and "healthy" a tan looks....please, it used to be that people thought the whiter the skin, the most beautiful it was; later on, the darker, the better it looked.

Those are just perceptions and fads.

Let's just be happy with our skin tone, whitchever it is, and stop damaging our health to change it.

Me? I'd rather be pale, but have smooth and healthy skin at my advanced age

 

[summerrluvv]

My dermatologists says if I had just stuck with regular sun this would never have happened to me. The tanning bed is what caused it.
Kathy

Well, I just don't buy that. Millions of people get skin cancer without stepping foot in a salon. They get it from the regular ol' sun.

 

[Freyja]

I lost a very dear friend of Melanoma. She was 35 and left a 3 year old daughter. No tan for me!

 

[DVC-Don]

I am a melanoma cancer survivor and now sell insurance policies to beauty salons. My company will not write a policy if the salon has any tanning booths.

 

[Crankyshank]

I have olive skin and tan very easily. I have never been to a tanning salon, but at 31 I am seeing the effects of spending so much time outside slathered in baby oil or without any sunblock when I was young. I can only imagine how bad it would be if I went tanning.

 

[littlemuffin]

Well, I just don't buy that. Millions of people get skin cancer without stepping foot in a salon. They get it from the regular ol' sun.


According to my dermatologist the type of cancer I have BCC in the past mostly effected 70 year old farmers, not 30 year old people who work in doors.

She wasn't saying that I never would have gotten any skin cancer from over exposure from the sun. Just that based on the limited amount of sun exposure that I do get - vacations etc - I would not have sun damage of this nature at the age of 34.

Believe what you want, but tanning booths have doubled the number of BCC in middle aged adults per AMA. They give you 3 to 4 hours of sun exposure in 20 minutes. Most people use them without any sunscreen unlike when they go in the sun and use some sunscreen.

I don't believe that everyone that uses tanning beds will get skin damage or skin cancer but it does increase the chance in people who are susceptible due to fair skin. Just like not everyone who smokes won't get lung cancer - but I don't like the odds much.

 

[littlemuffin]

FYI


The fact is that the UVA rays that are emitted from the Ultraviolet A light sources in tanning salons are two to three times more powerful than the UVA rays which occur naturally from the sun.


"There's more evidence on the hazards of tanning beds. Baking under their artificial lamps as little as once a month can boost your risk of a deadly form of skin cancer by 55% -- and the danger is even greater when done in early adulthood."

Study Shows Monthly Use Raises Melanoma Risk by 55%
By Sid Kirchheimer
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Thursday, October 16, 2003

Last year, Dartmouth researchers reported that people who ever visited a tanning salon were 2½ times more likely to later get squamous cell skin cancer and 1½ times more likely to develop basal cell skin than those who didn't.

Just a few published statistics to back up what my dermatologists said.

 

[caitycaity]

i have never been to a tanning salon.

the reason is i have a genetic predisposition to melanoma and had a malignant mole removed from my scalp when i was in high school. i am one of those people with a lot of moles. i keep joking around with dh that one day i will be one giant mole.

but seriously - i have had several moles and growths removed and let me tell you the scars are really not attractive. i have one on my arm that is very noticeable and the one on my scalp caused a partial bald spot. however, i would take the scars any day over death!

i'm only 27. for more than 10 years i have had to go every 6 month-1 year to a dermatologist. it is no fun to get a full body exam by a dermatologist - let me tell you. i hate it. but again, better than the alternative.

melanoma is one of the fastest spreading kinds of cancer. if you are not doing full body exams and keeping track of changes to your moles/new moles please do yourself a favor and start. anyone who tans regularly should do this.

please consider what you are doing when you choose to tan. it's really just like dan says, just like smoking it seems fine at the time but can have horrible consequences later.

 

[MAKmom]

The worst part for me is your awake when they are cutting you open & removing the growths. On your face its so close to your ear you can hear your skin cutting & feel the pull of the stiches. It was horrible for me. I'm afraid to say I think I have a new mole because since the Melonma they take everything that looks iffy & they are not all cancer...but you have to do it.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I'm 40 now and have used tanning beds for years.

I was diagnosed with psoriasis at a young age and was instructed by the dermatologist to use the tanning bed to keep the psoriasis under control. I now use a medicine called Enbrel that to me is the miracle drug for psoriasis, so I no longer need the tanning bed.

I still tan every once in a while for vacations and such like I am now. I worked for a dermatologic surgeon at one time and the tanning bed is just as bad if not worse than the sun.

 

[ashjohnson80]

I've never been. I don't like enclosed spaces. But I do use a sunless tanner that I like a lot.

 

[momrek06]

WOW, everyone thanks for all the REPLIES to my THREAD! Well it sure seems like I better say my prayers that I have no skin issues so far and seriously re-think TANNING (IN OR OUT)!

I just cannot stand to put shorts on come the summer and look down at my legs that look like two pieces of CHALK! Yup, it is UGLY and SCARY at the same time.....???

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

You don't mention how old you are, but I can tell you when you hit my age (39), you're going to start seeing damage from those years tanning. I'm seeing damage from when I lived in Destin.

I was at the beach all the time. I looked great, but my skin - and I'm not just referring to my face - is starting to show the effects of my stupidity. If I could change it now, I'd rather have stayed ghost-white and had beautiful skin a lot longer.

Since I moved back to Texas, I rarely get in the sun. Unfortunately, the damage is done and can't be reversed. It's just not worth it, IMO.

 

[caitycaity]

On your face its so close to your ear you can hear your skin cutting

i had this same experience with the one on my scalp. it sounded like they were ripping my skin off.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I'm just wondering, what is wrong with light skin?

 

[momrek06]

You don't mention how old you are, but I can tell you when you hit my age (39), you're going to start seeing damage from those years tanning. I'm seeing damage from when I lived in Destin.

I was at the beach all the time. I looked great, but my skin - and I'm not just referring to my face - is starting to show the effects of my stupidity. If I could change it now, I'd rather have stayed ghost-white and had beautiful skin a lot longer.

Since I moved back to Texas, I rarely get in the sun. Unfortunately, the damage is done and can't be reversed. It's just not worth it, IMO.

I am 52 y.o. and started this 10 years ago. I would go from April thru July! I would go 3 x a week. I just wanted a little color. I would make sure I would cover myself with suntan lotion prior to tanning and then shower up immediately and cover myself with moisturizer. So far I am not noting any skin damage BUT that said I am not sure what is ahead for me FROM DOING ALL THIS SO FAR. UGH!!!

 

[beckmrk04]

WOW, everyone thanks for all the REPLIES to my THREAD! Well it sure seems like I better say my prayers that I have no skin issues so far and seriously re-think TANNING (IN OR OUT)!

I just cannot stand to put shorts on come the summer and look down at my legs that look like two pieces of CHALK! Yup, it is UGLY and SCARY at the same time.....???

WHy not try a Mystic Tan? I thought I would hate it and it would look orange- but it really looked natural, and my pasty legs were pasty no more!

I just use a gradual sunless tanning lotion now. Just for a little color. I have tanned, but last time I tried a tanning salon, my legs brokeout in this HORRIBLE painful itchy rash! It has a name0 can't remember it... Anyway,I figured that was God's way of telling me to STOP! So I did. Sunless tans for me now. I still go out in the sun, but I always use SPF.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

I used to use the beds. Not very often, but I did it. I KNEW there was something wrong each time I smelled that people-cooking smell, but kept going.

I now have the scars to prove it. I have biopsy scars and removal scars.

My humble advice is to not do it and not go through what I did. But people told me that I shouldn't, and I did it anyway...always figured it wouldn't be me, I guess.

So, since you might end up with skin cancer, if you do it you should at least quit worrying and enjoy it. There'll be time enough to worry later.

 

[ashjohnson80]

WOW, everyone thanks for all the REPLIES to my THREAD! Well it sure seems like I better say my prayers that I have no skin issues so far and seriously re-think TANNING (IN OR OUT)!

I just cannot stand to put shorts on come the summer and look down at my legs that look like two pieces of CHALK! Yup, it is UGLY and SCARY at the same time.....???

I use a Neutrogena MicroMist tanning spray that you can get at any drug store. It goes on evenly and pretty gradually, so after using it for about a week you have a nice tan, and it's not orange. My legs get so white in the winter that I know what you mean, and I don't like the tanning lotions because they streak.

 

[DisneyDotty]

Well, since you asked... Here I go...

Don't do it! As others have said, tanning booths are far more dangerous than the sun. Don't risk malignant melanoma or numerous scars from having other cancers removed.
I'm a malignant melanoma survivor--have a chunk of my upper left arm missing as a result. Require numerous doctor visits/exams, and EVERY little symptom I have is now cause for suspicion.

As Dan says, what's wrong with light skin? I say we start a movement. Ghosties unite!