On a sunny spring day with temperatures in the upper seventies, a seemingly endless stream of people ignored the all-natural sunshine in favor of getting an expensive, fake version of a suntan from what looks like a spaceship.
The bell on the door announcing the arrival of yet another customer rang constantly in the Aruba Sun & Spa, about 250 times a day to be exact. But this is nothing compared to the one million Americans that visit tanning salons daily, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. This is coincidentally the same number of people that the American Cancer Society expects to be diagnosed with skin cancer in the next year.
Men and women from the age of 13 to 79 enter Aruba Sun & Spa on a regular basis, leaving several shades darker than when they entered. Yes, men too. At the Bel Air location, employees said that their clients are about 60 percent women and 40 percent men.
Indoor tanning may seem like the quick and easy way to get that sun-kissed look, but it could mean the kiss of death. Dr. Darrell Riegel, a dermatologist in New York, says that the reason why tanning beds darken your skin so much faster is because they produce 15 to 20 times more UVA rays than natural sunlight does. Just 20 minutes in a tanning bed is equivalent to spending a whole day at the beach with no sunscreen on, according to Live Healthy News.
“Tanned skin is damaged skin,” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Skin darkens as more of the pigment melanin is released in an attempt to protect the skin. Lying out in the sun unprotected exposes your fragile skin to harmful, cancer-causing rays. The only risk-free tanning methods are spray tans or lotions, but with that you risk looking like a walking traffic cone.
Aruba Sun & Spa employee and former JC student Taylor McGee thinks that tanning beds are actually safer than the sun. She says that it is more controlled, because clients are only in the bed for about ten minutes at a time. What she doesn’t realize is that tanning bed sessions are shorter because the more intense radiation damages your skin faster.
“By using a tanning bed, your risk of developing skin cancer can more than double over those who avoid them,” said Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone. Still, the Skin Cancer Foundation reports that 28 million Americans use tanning salons or beds in one of the 25,000 locations found in the United States.
Junior Jessica Barley, a customer of Aruba Sun & Spa, began tanning last spring for prom. She understands and accepts the risks. “I don’t tan year round or even that often, so I’m not too worried about it.”
Glamour magazine polled their readers and discovered that 77 percent of people continued using tanning beds even after being told by the International Agency for Research on Cancer that tanning bed use before the age of 30 increases your risk of getting melanoma by 75 percent. “I don’t feel I’m as prone to getting cancer as the people who are addicted and tan all year long,” Barley said. But she is.
Some are unaware of the full extent of the risks that can be downplayed by salon employees who don’t know their facts. Others want to get a base tan to prevent sunburn, even though that only provides SPF 4, according to dermatologist Jenny Kim.
The media tells us that in order to be beautiful you need to have bronzed skin even in the dead of winter. But since when do Jersey Shore characters embody ideal beauty? Sorry Guidos.
“It’s a self-confidence booster. I know that sounds crazy,” McGee said. She’s not crazy. For many people, fake tanning is equivalent to putting on makeup or working out – it makes them look and feel better.
Except the difference is that mascara and a treadmill can’t kill you. You’re not invincible and neither is your skin.
Cara Reilly can be reached for comment at [email protected].