Nevertheless, not a day goes by in a Summer Session class where I don't see students (usually female, but often guys as well) coming in with tans that are so dark that it makes me wonder whether they spend ANY time indoors. And my warnings to them about suntan and skin cancer seem to fall on deaf ears. I am particularly vocal when it comes to the subject of tanning salons. And now, my position has been supported in a column by Dr. Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania on the MSNBC website (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25378496/).
Dr. Caplan discusses how our society has made the tanned skin a desirable thing--a "healthy glow" as it were. Here's an excerpt from Dr. Caplan's column:
"A couple of high school students in my neighborhood recently told me they are getting ready to hit the beach this summer by tuning up their suntans inside tanning beds.
When I asked one of my colleagues here at Penn, Dr. William James, a professor of dermatology, if the high school students had the right idea about getting a head start on a tan, he laughed out loud. A tan, he said, represents nothing more than damage to the skin. It is the body trying to defend itself against an environmental hazard — too much UV light. In other words, indoor tanning gets you ready for the beach in the same way that getting scalded in a hot tub gets you ready to be boiled alive."
I have a relative who is a slave to the sun. He is younger than me, and always sports a dark tan, even in winter. But his skin is already beginning to show signs of aging--wrinkles, dark spots--that normally wouldn't appear for years. Overexposure to UV ages the skin prematurely, and robs it of its natural elasticity. And then, of course, there's that cancer thing.
In my opinion, anyone who spends money on tanning salons must be incredibly vain, stupid or both. And anyone who spends considerable time in the sun without using sunblock of AT LEAST SPF 15 (SPF 30 would be better) is asking for trouble down the line. Save your skin---skip the tanning bed.