Skin Cancer and The Tanning Industry
As discussed in other posts, limited amounts of regular sun exposure can help the body to maintain adequate vitamin D levels.
It’s also clear, though, that excessive sun exposure may damage the skin and increase the risk for skin cancer. That’s why the recent trend toward frequent use of tanning salons, especially by young women, is especially concerning.
As noted in the article linked above, “Caucasian women between age 16 and 49 make up 70 percent of those who regularly visit tanning salons.”
And yet, this group of mostly fair-skinned people actually needs the least amount of sun exposure. It’s kind of scary when you read comments like this:
“I was a high school teacher, and I remember sending one girl to the school nurse because her skin was so leathery I thought she had a condition of some sort,” said Vivian Viloria-Fisher, the Suffolk County legislator who sponsored the measure. “The nurse just said, ‘Oh, she’s just been tanning at a salon.’ ”
Hopefully this trend of always trying to maintain a mid-summer beach tan will fade away, and people will start to once again value blemish-free skin that doesn’t leave people looking like wrinkled leather in their 30s and 40s.
