Tanning beds not worth the risk

As the frost of winter starts to melt and the smell of spring winds its way into car windows, young girls across the nation take the opportunity to get “summer ready” by seeking out local tanning salons for the perfect color. What these women often look past is the dangerous outcome of stepping into a tanning bed hoping for a bronze glow. I know firsthand from my own devastating experience.

A recent study by JAMA Dermatology found that the number of skin cancer cases due to tanning has exceeded the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking. But how do you tell someone who is frequently using a tanning bed that they could potentially die or suffer serious scars? I certainly did not want to hear it; I was tan, which was my version of “pretty,” and whenever I went into a tanning bed I felt happier. But with skin cancer rates for ages 18-39 growing by 800 percent, I became a part of that statistic.

I never really cared that each year since I started tanning at 16, I would go to the dermatologist and get two or three moles removed. Of course, they would leave scars, but they were not really noticeable and I was still “cancer free”. However, this year after just two months of tanning, I went to my routine check up and my doctor found a suspicious mole, which ended up being a small skin cancer. Even that did not faze me until I read an article about a 27-year-old woman whose face was completely disfigured because of years in a tanning bed.

Tawny Willoughby bravely shared her story with CNN and took pictures of her face to show young girls like me that indoor tanning eventually catches up to you. The scarring that she has will forever mark her and unfortunately, so will mine. After my own two surgeries to remove the skin cancer cells, and after reading her moving article, I now see it is not worth enduring scars.

Tanning beds not only cause skin cancer, but also can cause the deadly form of it, melanoma, as well as cataracts, warts and rashes. If that is not enough reason to stay away from it, I do not know what is.
I know it is hard, especially when tanning beds actually change activity in the brain, which mimics the pattern of those brains with drug addictions, but every time someone steps into a tanning bed they increase their risk of cancer by 75 percent.

In the end, the safest way to get color is a spray tan or a tanning lotion. You should be focusing on an exciting new job or buying a house in your late 20s, not dealing with six months to live because of melanoma.