Increased Cases of Melanoma Arise due to Tanning Bed Tanning
Tanning addiction is a recently studied phenomenon within the dermatological and oncological fields. According to skincancer.org, frequent tanners show signs of dependence, similar to the way frequent drug users exhibit physical and psychological dependence and withdrawal. “Also supporting this idea of psychological dependence is a recent study in which 21 percent of 14–17-year-old indoor tanners reported difficulty quitting,” reports skincancer.org.
In an article by the Poughkeepsie Journal, a mother expressed concern about her daughter’s tanning habits, a concern that has raised considerably since her daughter left for college and is no longer under her mother’s supervision.
Mothers like her might be more worried knowing that tanning salons are mere walking distances from schools like Marist, Vassar, and SUNY New Paltz. Better Tan is less than a mile from Vassar’s campus, Beach Body Tanning is located across the street from Marist’s South entrance, and Sunny Tanning Inc. is located just over a mile off of SUNY New Paltz’s campus. The vicinity of these tanning salons to college campuses make them hot spots for students, especially during formal and graduation seasons.
Health Quest, the hospital system that encompasses the hospitals in the Mid-Hudson Valley, has not yet studied the effects of indoor tanning on dependency; however, the FDA is concerned with tanning in teens and children due to the harmful effects of UV rays, and the direct correlation between excessive sun exposure and melanoma.
James R. Nitzkorski, surgical oncologist at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, provided statistical data against popular myths about tanning bed tanning. “Indoor tanning machines have been declared a carcinogen (same as smoking and arsenic) by the World Health Organization,” said Nitzkorski. “The concept of a ‘base tan’ to reduce burning is garbage,” added Nitzkorski, debunking a popular tanning salon myth.
According to Health Quest’s online cancer research resources, UVA and UVB rays are the sun rays responsible for causing sunburns and skin cancer. “The UV rays cause mutations in the DNA,” reiterated Nitzkorski. “This will cause DNA to copy incorrectly which contributes to cancer development.”
In a study by Harvard Medical School published by Harvard Health Publishing in 2009, tanning beds use UVA rays, the rays responsible for deep skin penetration, more than UVB rays, the rays most associated with sunburns. The UVA rays used in tanning beds are also three times more intense than the sun’s UVA rays. UVA rays are also the rays that cause rapid photoaging, a condition causing premature skin aging.
“Over the past month I’ve treated a 21 year old woman, a 34 year-old woman, and I am going to see another young woman with melanoma next week I believe in her early 20s. All with melanoma. It is not uncommon.” Nitzkorski included that treatment via surgery is only effective in the severe stages of melanoma, so these cases can be prevented.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, more than half of indoor tanners, individuals that frequent tanning salons, started tanning before age 21. Nearly one third of the same population started tanning before age 18. In 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer reported that the risk of melanoma increased within patients who started indoor tanning before age 35, and that there is an association between indoor tanning and cancer of the eye, called ocular melanoma.
Nitzkorski warns than “Indoor tanning has been shown to increase the risk of melanoma by about 70–75% when exposed before the age of 30.” While melanoma has increased dramatically (45% increase in non-Hispanic white patients between 1992–2004, according to Health Quest), tanning-related cases can be prevented.
