Fragrantly Beautiful

Tanned skin: Beauty, or danger?

Ennis BarberyPrinceton Times

By ENNIS BARBERYfor the Princeton Times

PRINCETON — Anywhere in the United States where there are women in bikinis, there is bound to be an expanse of golden skin. With an estimated 28 million people tanning indoors annually, bronze is apparently one of Americans’ favorite colors. And, for many, a tan is a rite of summer.

According to Lois Comerose, manager of Body Elements in Princeton, her salon alone provides tanning services for 150 to 200 people each day.

“I think people tan because it makes them feel better and look better,” Comerose said. Since the absorption of sunlight is proven to aid the body in processing Vitamin D, she said some clients believe that tanning benefits their health and just makes them feel more relaxed.Another benefit many salons tout in the controversy over indoor tanning is that many indoor tanning beds, such as the high-pressure beds at Body Elements, block the majority of UVB rays, which are believed to be the cause of the obvious skin reddening that sometimes occurs immediately following sun exposure.

However, all tanning beds still emit UVA rays, which are also responsible for sunburns, premature aging, and sometimes skin cancer.

According to Tanning Trends magazine, “Moderate tanning has never been linked scientifically to skin cancer. In fact, by helping people tan with a reduced incidence of sunburn, indoor tanning may reduce your risk of ever contracting skin cancer.”

However, Dermatologist Dr. David Tolliver, of DermOne, would disagree with this statement.

“Any tan is a sign of injury to the skin,” he explained.

In fact, a study by the Skin Cancer Foundation of New York found that mice exposed to small daily doses of ultraviolet light over a period of time, such as someone who tans regularly at a salon, actually developed more wrinkling and skin cell damage than mice who received the same amount of energy in a few big doses resulting in sunburns.“

I would never recommend indoor or outdoor tanning to anyone, and I don’t think any credible dermatologist would,” Tolliver said. “I see 30-year-olds everyday who say that they would never have tanned if they knew what they would look like today.”

And, the tanning debate is not just about looks. Every year, more than 1 million people are diagnosed with skin cancer in the United States. Despite the fact that most tanning salons require parents to sign a release explaining the risks of indoor tanning before anyone under age 18 is allowed to tan, people are being diagnosed with skin cancer younger and younger.

“I see people in their 20s who have skin cancer, which until recently was unheard of,” Tolliver said.

He also explained that, although people with naturally darker skin have some protection against the damaging effects of sun exposure, everyone is at risk of developing skin cancer.

Some signs that may indicate skin cancer are: a skin abnormality that increases in size and appears multicolored, pink, red, black, brown, tan, pearly, or translucent; a mole that changes on color or texture, grows, becomes irregular in shape, or that is larger than a pencil eraser; a spot or growth that continually itches, hurts, becomes crusty, scabs, or bleeds; or an open sore that does not heal after four weeks or one that heals and reopens.

According to Christy Smith, an Estee Lauder Beauty Advisor at Belk in Mercer Mall, sunless tanning products are a popular and safe alternative to indoor or outdoor tanning. The sunless tanning industry offers an array of products that temporarily bronze skin without the risk of wrinkles or skin cancer later in life. Having developed melanoma, Smith knows firsthand about the dangers of excessive exposure to the sun. Her advice to others would be, “Just take care of your skin. It stays with you for a lifetime.”

In the end, medical experts said the issue of whether to tan comes down to a few simple questions: Is tanning worth the risk? If it means damaging your health, is tan really beautiful?

posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 1:16 PM