As summer warmth returns and the sun draws people back outdoors, dermatologists are sounding the alarm over a concerning rise in tanning, a habit they link to one of the most common forms of cancer. Many people chase a bronze glow in the belief that it signals good health, but specialists say the truth is the opposite, since every tan is ultimately a sign that the skin has been damaged.
Dr. Spencer Dunaway, a dermatologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, explained that a tan is fundamentally a marker of DNA damage. Tanning exposes the skin to dangerous ultraviolet radiation, which in turn raises a person's risk of developing several different types of cancer, can contribute to cataracts and noticeably accelerates premature aging of the skin.
Indoor tanning, carried out through a tanning bed or a sun lamp, can be even more hazardous than the sun itself. In some cases, Dunaway said, these devices emit ultraviolet radiation up to 15 times the strength of the midday sun, concentrating a punishing dose of exposure into a single short session that the body has little chance to withstand.
The evidence behind the warnings is overwhelming, he stressed. There is an enormous body of proof that tanning beds cause cancer, and they sit in the same risk category as tobacco smoke and substances such as asbestos. That grouping, he noted, places indoor tanning among the most clearly established carcinogens known to medicine.
There is also renewed concern about how all of this affects young people. Dunaway pointed to a decision taken last month in which the FDA withdrew a proposed rule that would have banned anyone under the age of 18 from using tanning beds, choosing instead to leave the matter up to individual states to regulate however they see fit.
The stakes for those teenagers are considerable. Someone who begins tanning before the age of 18 faces a dramatic increase in their risk of skin cancer, and is also roughly four times more likely to become a lifelong or long-term tanner, effectively locking in years or even decades of repeated and cumulative exposure.
For anyone still determined to have a summer glow, Dunaway offered a safer path. He recommended self-tanners or artificial tanners, such as lotions or wipes, which trigger a reaction that creates a pigment-like compound on the surface of the skin and are considered completely safe to use. There is, he cautioned in closing, no such thing as a safe natural tan.