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Indoor Tanning- Raise/Reduce Skin Cancer Risk
“Of 5,000 total skin cancer cases in Canada in 2015, a total of 7.0% of melanomas, 5.2% of Basel Cell Carcinomas, and 7.5% of Squamous Cell Carcinomas were caused by ever-use of indoor tanning devices.”
If you use indoor tanning beds, my guess is that you don’t really care about a small but significant increase in your risk of skin cancer. I didn’t use indoor tanning beds when I was young but I loved to tan. I sat is the sun as much as I could. Anytime my family and I traveled someplace warm I would burn and peel quickly in order to then reach a deeper tan. This process took about two weeks in the sun.
The problem is that I didn’t care about my skin cancer risk in my teens or twenties but I can a lot about my risks and how my skin looks now that I’m in my 50’s.
If you had asked me to stop tanning when I was young I would have ignored you. Even if you told me that I was increasing my risk of all types of skin cancer, I wouldn’t have cared.
I may have listened to you however, if you told me that I could reduce my risk of skin cancer while I fed my skin healthy therapies by supplementing with certain supplements (vitamin D3 for example) or if I had applied vitamin E oil to my skin. I follow these as well as many other skin health therapies now but I wish I had started then. Old people like me like to lament that “youth is wasted on the young.”
To learn more about evidence-based, non-toxic therapies to reduce your risk of skin cancer scroll down the page, post a question or comment. I will reply to you ASAP.
To learn more about the three very different types of skin cancer- melanoma, basel cell, and squamous cell scroll down the page and ask me a question. I will reply ASAP.
Thanks
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- Skin Cancer As You Age- Before, During and After Diagnosis
- Frequent Basal Cell Cancer (BCC) May Mean More Cancer
- How to Identify Skin Cancer in 5 Steps
Is Indoor Tanning Linked to Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers?
“About 5% to 8% of all melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers diagnosed in Canada in 2015—or approximately 5,000 cases—are attributable to indoor tanning bed use, according to a recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology…
“There is copious evidence that being a user of indoor tanning increases your risk of skin cancer, and studies like this put that increased risk into a public health context…”
Lifetime use of an indoor tanning device was associated with relative risks of:
- 1.38 for melanoma,
- 1.39 for basal cell carcinoma, and
- 1.49 for squamous cell carcinoma.
Of 5,000 total skin cancer cases in Canada in 2015, a total of 7.0% of melanomas, 5.2% of BCCs, and 7.5% of SCCs were caused by ever-use of indoor tanning devices.
Indoor UV tanning and skin cancer: health risks and opportunities
“Studies from the past several years have shown a significant association between ever-use of an indoor tanning facility and an increased risk of basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. The association between indoor tanning and skin cancer is particularly strong among those who first used a tanning facility in early adulthood…
Summary- Although additional research is needed to understand fully the relationship between UV and skin cancer, it is already clear that indoor tanning bed use represents an avoidable risk factor for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer – both of which may be lethal. Acting upon this information provides a unique opportunity for protecting the public health…”