Does Tanning Equal Death?

A person’s chances of contracting skin cancer increase by seventy-five percent if they use a tanning bed before the age of thirty. However, America is seemingly ignoring these facts. People around the country go to tanning beds year round to get a beautiful summer glow. Unfortunately by doing this they are destroying their skin. According to many researchers, those who use tanning beds can and will greatly damage their skin The use of tanning beds can become a very serious addiction for some people and should thus be eliminated by the government. In my personal opinion the use of tanning beds should be stopped or limited so people do not over use them. I believe this for two major reasons. First, tanning beds cause skin cancer. Second, Ultra-Violet light causes severe eye damage. These are the reasons I believe the use of tanning beds should be limited to the public.
The first reason I believe tanning beds should be regulated is because they can cause skin cancer. Most tanning beds use ultraviolet bulbs. These bulbs give off mostly UV-A rays. UV-A rays go deep into a person’s skin and can disrupt cells involved with the body’s immune response, which can increase the chance of developing melanoma and other skin cancers. Regular exposure to the sun and tanning beds can lead to the risk of three types of skin cancer. Basal cell, Squamous cell and Melanoma. Basal cell is a benign type of skin cancer, which causes scarring. Squamous cell is generally benign but can spread through the body if it is not taken care of. Melanoma is the most deadly types of skin cancer.
My great grandmother and grandfather lived on a farm and they spent a lot of time in the sun. There was also a lake near by and they loved to sun bathe there. My great grandmother had a mole on her back from the time she was a little girl, but as she got older her mole became darker and misshaped. When a doctor finally noticed the mole, he told her to stay out of the sun as much as she could. He then removed the mole and discovered she had Melanoma. The doctor was too late; the mole grew back and the Melanoma had spread further through her body. My great grandmother became very sick and ended up dying from the Melanoma. She passed away in her late forties, which is very young. Her death was extremely hard for my grandmother and her siblings.
Tanning beds produce the same UV-A rays as the sun. In some cases tanning beds can be more dangerous than the sun because there is a more concentrated distribution of UV-A rays to the skin. In her online article Tanning Beds- More Dangerous than Sunlight? Dr. Melissa Stoppler writes about how many people feel having a tan is an attractive thing, but in reality a tan is a sign of skin damage.
The second reason I believe the use of tanning beds should be limited is because ultra-violet light can cause serious and permanent eye damage. There are three major eye problems ultra-violet light causes. First and foremost, ultra-violet light is a direct cause of cancer of the eye. Second, ultra violet light increases a person’s chances of having cataracts. Third, ultra-violet light causes retinal damage. As a result of these reasons, I have personally concluded tanning beds should be limited, in society.
While there are a great number of disadvantages when it comes to the use of tanning beds, there are also a few positives. One example of this is, ultra-violet light increases vitamin D in one’s body. Vitamin D thickens the bones. Which in turn makes for a healthier life style. However, while the increase of vitamin D is no doubt a good thing, it does not off set all of the bad effects caused by tanning beds. Tanning beds do more harm than good.
In the early years of our country it was attractive for a woman to have fair skin. This has since changed. “The lifetime risk of melanoma as we know it today is about 1 in 75 whereas 70 years ago, this number was 1 in 5,000 (*******).” This is a very drastic change. The biggest difference between fifty years ago and now, is the addition of tanning beds to society. While in some cases tanning beds can be good for a person, in most cases this is not true. The ultra-violet light used in tanning beds is deadly. There isn’t a simpler way of putting it. Ultra-violet light leads directly to skin cancer and can cause severe eye damage. People need to educate themselves when it comes to tanning beds. However, this isn’t a role people should have to worry about. The government needs to step in. If they don’t we could lose a vast amount of our generation. For these reasons, the use of tanning beds should be limited, and possibly banned. So, we might preserve our skin and our life spans.

-Kristi Genton