Tanning beds: myths and reality.
Keywords:
tanning beds, indoor tanning, sunbeds, ultra violet radiation, malignant melanomaAbstract
The deleterious effects of solar radiation on human skin are thoroughly understood; however, the use of tanning beds with cosmetic purposes has extended throughout the world. It is estimated that 30 million people use them, and 2.3 million of those are teen agers. This business made 5 billion dollars in 2005, 13 million a year in the United States. Approximately one million people are thought to get a tan each day, 70% of which are white females between 16 and 49. The first tanning beds at the beginning of the 70´s used broad spectrum UVR; in the 80´s, these lights 95-98% UVA. Recently, high pressure lamps, with crescent doses of UVB have become widely used.
There are several myths about tanning booths, like 1) tanning is healthy, 2) they do it for medical reasons, like vitamin D synthesis and disease control, like psoriasis, 3) that it protects from sun damage, and 4) that they are less damaging then the sun.
The truth is artificial tanning is not a healthy practice; on the contrary, UVR has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a carcinogenic agent like cigarettes or X rays, reaching the conclusion that sunbeds are not safe.
Its use has not been well controlled in many countries including Colombia and even where there are well established norms, these are not followed, because it is been proven that doses greater then a sunny day have been given. This is not only way higher than the doses needed to synthesize vitamin D, but can also increase its metabolism. For all these reasons, from the medical point of view, there is no justifying for the use of tanning beds.
Author Biography
Ángela Zuluaga
Médica dermatóloga, Universidad de Antioquia; profesora titular, Universidad CES; dermatóloga, Clínica Las Vegas, Medellín, Colombia.
References
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