Teenagers have heard at least a hundred times from worrisome adults how tanning beds cause skin cancer and can kill. So most just roll their eyes, put headphones on and lay down in the hot, claustrophobic bed anyway.
But I bet most don’t know laying down in that bed increases your risk of melanoma, the most serious of skin cancer, by 74 percent, according to cancer epidemiologist DeAnn Lazovich. Those discolored moles are appearing in much lower age groups than they used to, and it’s mainly thanks to tanning beds and the perception that you have to be a perfect golden color year-round to look healthy and beautiful.
According to Washington University Dermatologist Lynn Cornelius, the idea of being tan has become too important to society. Sixty-five percent of tanning salons surveyed in the oh-so-wonderful state of Missouri say they would let kids as young as 10 use their tanning beds.
Imagine a group of fifth graders walking out of a salon with unnaturally tan skin just as you’re walking in. Those girls will look 75 by the time they are 40, due to the damage tanning causes our collagen, the stuff in our skin that keeps it smooth and elastic, according to Women’s Health. Try to argue now that tanning makes your skin look great, because you’ll regret it when a teacher mistakes your kids for your grandchildren at parent-teacher conferences one day.
Even worse than wrinkly skin is that you can develop cancer. Not only that, but you’re 74 percent more likely to, and while I’ve already said this, I feel it’s important for it to sink in. And sure you could always just cut the part of your skin off with cancer, but I’d bet no one would willingly cut parts of their body off in order to tan.
Why Americans risk cancer and spend over 9 billion dollars total on tanning a year still confuses me. Pale skin is not weird-looking or bad. Before the 1920’s, being pale actually meant you were more refined and part of the upper-class.
This could apply to today too. Just look at Rachel McAdams or Emma Stone, who are pale but clearly very pretty. And then picture the cast of Jersey Shore and their incredibly tan skin that makes them all look like sun-dried tomatoes. Just because society thinks it’s “better” to be tan all the time, does not mean it looks good on everyone or that it’s good for you.
