For many people, especially younger adults, tanning beds have long been seen as a quick and easy way to get a golden glow. Some believe indoor tanning looks healthier or helps boost confidence.
However, a new study has revealed a troubling truth. Using tanning beds may damage the skin in ways that are far more serious than previously thought.
In fact, young people who use tanning beds may have skin cells that look much older at the genetic level than people twice their age.
This research was carried out by scientists from the University of California, San Francisco, and Northwestern University. It was published in the journal Science Advances in December.
The findings show that people in their 30s and 40s who use tanning beds have more genetic damage in their skin than people in their 70s and 80s who do not use tanning beds. This means that, at a microscopic level, the skin of tanning bed users appears decades older than their actual age.
The study was led by Dr. Bishal Tandukar, a researcher in dermatology at UCSF. He explained that the skin cells of tanning bed users showed a surprisingly high number of mutations. These mutations are changes in DNA that happen when cells are damaged.
Once a mutation occurs, it cannot be undone. Over time, too many mutations can cause cells to grow out of control, which can lead to cancer.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. While most skin cancers can be treated if caught early, melanoma is especially dangerous. Melanoma makes up only a small percentage of skin cancer cases, but it causes most skin cancer deaths.
Around 11,000 people in the U.S. die from melanoma every year. The main cause of melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet radiation, also known as UV radiation.
UV radiation comes from the sun, but it is also produced by artificial sources such as tanning beds. Tanning beds often give off very strong UV rays, sometimes even stronger than natural sunlight.
Over the years, as tanning beds have become more popular, rates of melanoma have increased. Young women are especially affected, as they make up a large portion of tanning bed users.
Many countries have already taken action. Some have banned tanning beds completely, especially for young people. The World Health Organization has classified tanning beds as a group 1 carcinogen.
This is the same category used for tobacco smoke and asbestos, both of which are known to cause cancer. Despite this, tanning beds are still legal and widely used in the United States.
To better understand the risks, the researchers examined medical records from more than 32,000 dermatology patients. These records included information about tanning bed use, past sunburns, and family history of melanoma. The researchers also collected skin samples from 26 people and closely studied 182 individual skin cells.
What they found was alarming. Young people who used tanning beds had many more mutations in their skin cells than older people who did not. These mutations were especially common on the lower back.
This area of the body usually does not get much sun exposure, but it is often exposed during tanning bed use. This showed that the damage was not coming from normal outdoor sunlight, but from artificial UV light.
Dr. A. Hunter Shain, a senior author of the study and a professor of dermatology at UCSF, said that the skin of tanning bed users was filled with cells that already carried the early signs of cancer.
These cells had mutations that are known to increase the risk of melanoma. In other words, the damage was already there, waiting for the right conditions to turn into cancer.
Dr. Shain explained that once a mutation happens, it cannot be fixed. Because of this, preventing damage in the first place is extremely important. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do that is to avoid artificial UV radiation altogether. This means staying away from tanning beds.
When reviewing and analyzing these findings, one message is very clear. Tanning beds do far more harm than many people realize, especially to young skin. The damage is not just on the surface. It goes deep into the DNA of skin cells, speeding up aging and planting the seeds for cancer years or even decades before the disease appears.
This study provides strong scientific evidence that tanning beds are not a safe cosmetic choice but a serious health risk. Limiting or avoiding tanning bed use could prevent countless future cases of skin cancer and save many lives.
If you care about skin health, please read studies about eating fish linked to higher risk of skin cancer, and Vitamin B3 could help prevent skin cancers.
For more health information, please see recent studies about vegetable oil linked to spread of cancer, and results showing Vitamin D could help treat skin inflammation.
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