Think I'm addicted to tanning

[leahjade]

We have a pool, and I love lying out in the sun and getting brown. I've done this every year from May through Sept ever since I was a teenager many years ago. I love the way I look tan, and I enjoy the feeling of the sun on my skin. But lately I've known two young people who have died from melanoma and now I'm scared. I wonder why the rates of melanoma have increased so much in the past few years -people are using more sunscreen than ever? And I've read that sunscreen has never proven to prevent skin cancer. It's so scary - I feel like a smoker who knows he may get lung cancer if he keeps on smoking, but does it anyway!

 

[Jennasis]

Maybe make an appointment with a dermatologist for a check? Then let her tell you the risks, the stats, and show you some pics. That'll cure your addiction real quick!

 

[kirbsam]

but think how healthy that you will look in your coffin.

 

[AshleyW]

but think how healthy that you will look in your coffin.

yep. My mom got skin cancer about 5 years ago - I slather on the sunscreen pretty much every day now, and try to wear UV protective clothing when I'm going to be outside for extended periods of time.

 

[leahjade]

I do see a dermatologist and have never had any suspicious moles.
How come little old ladies in Florida have been lying in the sun all year for all these decades and never get melanoma? Yet a 19 year old boy who never sunbathes and whose mother always put sunscreen on him dies from melanoma? I guess I'd just like some answers from science for some things that just don't make sense! A woman at work had a melanoma mole on her butt yet she never has been in a tanning bed or a nude beach!
I guess I'm trying to rationalize my behavior but it just seems like the medical community doesn't have a lot of the answers either.

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

We have a pool, and I love lying out in the sun and getting brown. I've done this every year from May through Sept ever since I was a teenager many years ago. I love the way I look tan, and I enjoy the feeling of the sun on my skin. But lately I've known two young people who have died from melanoma and now I'm scared. I wonder why the rates of melanoma have increased so much in the past few years -people are using more sunscreen than ever? And I've read that sunscreen has never proven to prevent skin cancer. It's so scary - I feel like a smoker who knows he may get lung cancer if he keeps on smoking, but does it anyway!

well, I have been tanning since 1978, doing double sessions etc, joining two salons at once, so I have tan since then! My 26 yo daughter was diagnosed may of 2009 last year while she was 8 months pregnant, she was stage 3 when she delivered my grandson and she had two surgeries.

I have to say how hard this has been all the way around. I suffer from several medical issues that the heat from the tanning beds make me feel so much better. My only child has this ....such a nasty cancer, and I have almost stopped. I feel guilty for her because she is going thru all this, and she never tanned. I have been to two doctors and I have nothing..

I have stayed tan free since last year until this May when I went to Disney. I did two weeks.
But you go the whole winter without. so it should not be as bad as 24/7 tanning...

as far as who gets what as far as cancer, is if this gene is in your family you have a much better shot at having it. I do not have any melanoma in mine, so we are thinking it is in my ex husbands family...

It is a crap shoot, like smoking...

 

[JulielovesDisney]

I do see a dermatologist and have never had any suspicious moles.
How come little old ladies in Florida have been lying in the sun all year for all these decades and never get melanoma? Yet a 19 year old boy who never sunbathes and whose mother always put sunscreen on him dies from melanoma? I guess I'd just like some answers from science for some things that just don't make sense! A woman at work had a melanoma mole on her butt yet she never has been in a tanning bed or a nude beach!
I guess I'm trying to rationalize my behavior but it just seems like the medical community doesn't have a lot of the answers either.

Just because you tan, doesn't mean you will get skin cancer. It's just the luck of the draw. As sad as it is, it's the truth.
Just make sure you keep getting check ups and watch out for any suspicious moles.

 

[lil mermaid]

Well even if you don't get skin cancer, you will look old, wrinkly, leathery, spotty and 10 years older than you really are when you are 40.

(Don't know how old you are, but if you are 40, you probably already do.)

 

[leahjade]

My prayers for your daughter! That's what seems like the senseless part about the whole thing is that your daughter never tanned. I used to think that tanning booths were the culprit but many who are diagnosed have never tanned. Now I've been reading articles about some studies showing that sunscreen causes skin cancer. That would explain the rising rates in the past few decades since sunscreen has been on the market. I just hope we are not being fed a bill of good from the sunscreen companies lulling us into thinking that wearing sunscreen will protect us - it does NOT. I guess the only answer is staying out of the sun totally but that is so hard with kids, vacations etc. plus we need Vitamin D for our bodies. It's all such a scary thing!

 

[Handbag Lady]

Well even if you don't get skin cancer, you will look old, wrinkly, leathery, spotty and 10 years older than you really are when you are 40.

(Don't know how old you are, but if you are 40, you probably already do.)

I think maybe we should just show my face to the OP. I tanned most of my life and now I have wrinkly skin at the ripe old age of 41.

 

[leahjade]

Actually I look very good for my age and people always guess I look a lot younger than I am. Maybe it just hasn't caught up with me yet! I think next year I will try the spray tans instead though I read that the chemicals in them may cause cell damage as well. One year I did try sunless tanning but it looked horrible and reading the ingredient list scared me as much as the sun does! It seems we just can't win!

 

[momrek06]

I live in Southern CA (moved from the east coast in '08). I love the sun BUT that being said, we have a pool at my condo complex and I make sure I am completely lathered up all the time I am outside. I may even over lather but I am scared of melanoma and know that the sun here is pretty intense. While at the pool, I alternate allot between the sun and the shade. And cover up within 2 hours anyway.

I think you can still enjoy the sun IN moderation, using sun screen and wearing hats and knowing when you have had enough for one day.

 

[moon]

How do you know that "little old ladies" in FL have been tanning in the sun all these decades and "never" get melanoma?

Who knows how many sun lovers never even made it to an old age, how many of those little ladies are transplants from the north, and how many of them aren't sun worshippers?

Let's remember that it used to be that white, pale skin was considered beautiful, so woman avoided the sun as much as possible (remember Marilyn?). It was not until the late '60s that someone (was it coopertone?) decided that baking yourself in the sun was "healthy" and "it made you beautiful".

It is a fact that sun exposure increases your chance of getting disfiguring and deadly skin cancer. It is not the only cause, but it is one of the biggest.

It's like lung cancer. Non-smokers may get it too, but the risk factor is much, much bigger if you smoke.

Is tanning worth such a huge gamble?

Not to me. I embrace my paleness! (and also think I lookg good in my natural skin tone. Why fight it?)

 

[sunnyday123]

Well even if you don't get skin cancer, you will look old, wrinkly, leathery, spotty and 10 years older than you really are when you are 40.

(Don't know how old you are, but if you are 40, you probably already do.)

I have a friend, we're the same age, but she looks a good 10-15 years older, simply because she tans. We talk every day at work ( email ) but I havent' seen her in about 9 months. Saw her yesterday and You look good tanned for a while, but then it all kicks in and you look like a deflated football.

Have you tried spray tans? If you do the salon ones, you really look like you have a regular tan.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

My best friend who is 37 had a melanoma on her arm that they caught 2 years ago. Thankfully, she went in time and they were able to get it all out, but they had to remove a big area around the spot, along with the cancerous spot to make sure they got it all. She has a bad scar now. She tanned in a tanning bed somewhat, but I don't remember her going overboard. Poor thing. She didn't realize how serious it was until they referred her to an oncologist. On the other hand, some people can tan all their lives and never get cancer, a lot like smoking. And like lung cancer, some people who never smoke end up dying from lung cancer (Andy Kaufman, Dana Reeves).

 

[tzolkin]

Well even if you don't get skin cancer, you will look old, wrinkly, leathery, spotty and 10 years older than you really are when you are 40.

(Don't know how old you are, but if you are 40, you probably already do.)

My mother and MIL are good examples of this.

MIL is extremely tan and thinks people look awful, should never wear shorts/tanks/bathing suits, and are "unhealthy" unless they have a dark tan. (My kids and I are pale and always use sunblock. ) She buys expensive creams, make-up, etc and complains all the time about her wrinkles, saggy eyelids, and other skin issues. She's convinced that she's just getting old, but I think it has more to do with the fact that she "sits out" in the FL sun every single day to keep up her tan. She just turned 50.

My mother is just two years younger but looks the same as she did when she was 30. If she rinses her face when she showers and brushes her teeth that's about all she does. She has always worn a hat or sunblock when working outside.

 

[DisMN]

I grew up back in the days that having a tan in the summer was The Most Important thing....even to our MOTHERS!! The goal was to get as brown as possible and you'd compare your tan with every one elses.

Tans were in. They were expected. Really really expected. You were looked at as sick/sickly if you weren't brown.

However........tans aren't all that in anymore. I'm always taken aback when I see the brown skin with the bright white teeth and honestly don't think it looks good. Being tan was a fad. Now...not so much.

I do love the sun and how it feels so warm healing so I get where you're coming from in that respect, but if you're only doing it for how nice you think your skin looks then take a really good look around and notice that not every single person has or covets the golden tan anymore.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

We've had a lot of mole/melanoma threads on the DIS lately. I'm guessing because of all the news channels doing their "Summer" stories.

I took the opportunity to go to a dermatologist last week for the first time and had my moles checked out. I'm still waiting on the results of a test they did on one mole. Overall, though, he was not concerned.

As others have said, though, the FIRST question I was asked was if anyone in my family ever had skin cancer. From the sounds of it, this must be something they're really looking into now, as I see it in a lot of articles, too.

I would continue to use the sunscreen, as my dermatologist is still saying they are safe. Try your best to cut back on the amount of sun you're getting. You don't have to cut it out completely, but just be aware of it.

 

[JessicaR]

but think how healthy that you will look in your coffin.

I just think this is really not nice. You have no idea what their genetics are or what will be. You can say she is increasing her odds. But putting her in a coffin is terrible.



Anyway two stories. A woman my husband works with is not a sun worshipper and never has been. She was at an annual exam with her regular PCP. She had this tiny spot under her fingernail that she decided to mention. He sent her to a dermatologist - just because. It ended up being Melanoma. So why her and why there? I can't tell you what she has been through so far.

My Mom's best friend sun worshipper from the get go. She is 65 found a spot on the bridge of her nose. Nothing major she thought. It became a sore that wouldnt heal. Another case this one more likely that the first. She has had 4 surgeries so far. Not done yet.

So some people are sun worshippers never wear sunscreen and nothing happens and some people avoid the sun like the plague and yet contract deadly skin cancer. Who knows?

I do agree that people look like alligators when they start aging if they have been sun worshippers. But does it increase your odds of having skin cancer or are we just predisposed?

 

[dzorn]

but think how healthy that you will look in your coffin.

Well when I see tanned skin the first thing I think is how unhealthy they look. Not to long ago I read an article that tanning releses some of the same chemicals that other addictions do.

OP see a doctor and have that skin checked out.

http://www.healthcentral.com/skin-care/c/38641/24724/addicted-tanning

This is not the article I read but it was on topic.

Denise in MI