Indoor Tanning

"Melanoma Monday just passed, and no one will bug you about the risks of skin cancer for at least one year. You disconnect the timer on the sun bed and just slowly simmer." According to Dr. Terry Polevoy, the previous statement is one of the top ten comedic excuses why people use tanning beds. The use of tanning beds has grown significantly over the past twenty years. People often feel the need to have the so-called "perfect appearance" and most feel like they can achieve this by the help from a tanning bed. In the upcoming discussion, the following areas will be addressed: the evolution of the use of tanning beds, why in terms of appearance are tanning beds used and the risks taken when the decision is made to use a tanning bed.

Indoor tanning can trace its roots all the way to Germany. While research had been done on the effects of light before the invention of tanning beds, it was not until 1975 that the first tanning beds appeared. Friedrich Wolff is known for having introduced the first tanning units at this time, and was soon joined by others ("Tanning History"). In the United States, the first units to become popular were the UVB booths, the same units that the dermatologist used. The rays from a tanning bed are long wave rays, which are known as UVA. The short waves from the sun are known as UVB (Corruth). They actually find their first use for tanning in the late 1960's. The original units developed in Europe were very low in UVB. Since then, the United States market has developed new lamps. The majority of lamps used in the U.S. today are now in the 5.0 to 9.5 % UVB range ("Tanning History"). Today the economy has driven the development of lamps towards a system, which more closely resembles natural sunlight.

Once tanning beds became popular in 1980 the craze has only increased. Years ago a tan was consider a sign of the working class and people always wanted themselves as milky white (Paradee). People back then never had any type of color and were consider normal, but in today's world if a person had no tan and was milky white they would be consider an albino or even ugly. Why has society put so much pressure on the world for all to be tan so our appearance is acceptable? Well researchers from the American Tanning Beds Company states it because of a feel-good factor. They say, "Using a tanning unit brings them year long well-being "("New Study...."). The feel good factor consists of three main parts, using a tanning bed fulfills the mind because it allows for restoration and relaxation. It is good for the body because one is relaxing, while being surrounded by warmth and cool breezes. It also is fulfills the soul because looking better means more confidence in ones self, and when feeling great it brings the out the best in people ("New Study....").

Tanning helps boost people's self-esteem because a good tan is consider the ideal color today. Most people want to be considering beautiful by others and to be accepted so they therefore want to have the looks of a typical good-looking person. In this case a stereotypical female would be thin, clean, and with nice skin usually a tan. On the other hand males would be muscular, tall, and dark skin. Some people even believe in the myth that using the tanning beds would help clear up acne (Swerdlow). The tanning bed is defiantly the latest trend in all tanning (Paradee).

A recent survey about tanning beds was given out to students between the ages of eighteen to twenty-one, fifteen females and ten males. Most of the participants were Caucasian along with two Hispanics. The results were quite astonishing; the students were using tanning beds two to three times a week for at least twenty minutes each visit. Many who used tanning beds often felt pressure by society to look good, and they felt like being tan would achieve the perfect image. One said, "Being tan makes me feel good, and that they look better with some skin color". A shocking result was when they were asked if they think they are endangering their health. Many responded with yes and that they know that they're not safe but still continue to tan because they haven't experienced any side effects from it (Klumb). Why do people ignore these factors and still continue to tan? Perhaps the people are not fully aware of the potential dangers that can occur while using tanning beds, or some may have not experienced the use of tanning beds and are curious to try it out, and still there are those who go for the tanning salon advertisements.

An article written by Jerry Deveney, a director of marketing for Sun Industries Inc, talked about active tanners and those who were untanned. He explains that the untanned have not experienced what tanning beds can do to one's self esteem. He states that, "Tanning also becomes a part of the fitness routine for many and also reflects the looking -good attitude of the nation". Untanned masses outnumber the active tanners by a ten to one ration. He insists throughout his article that tanning salons must create new ways to keep active