Most people like having beautiful, bronze skin these days, especially with the warm shorts and t-shirts weather. To get that beautiful healthy look, many people turn to tanning beds, but how safe are they? The fact is, they are really quite dangerous.

The Effects of a Tan

A tan is little different from a sunburn in terms of the effects on your skin. A tan essentially means that your skin is feeling the effects of UV radiation. There is no amount of UV radiation known to be safe for your skin. Youve probably heard about the damage sunburns can do to your skin, right? A tan can be just as damaging. It changes the DNA in your skin cells, weakening the cell structure and increasing you risk for melanoma.

Where Do Tanning Beds Fit In?

Tanning beds are nothing short of unsafe. Even if your salon claims their tanning beds are safe, youre just looking at a marketing ploy. Both UVA and UVB rays are known to cause skin cancer. Despite the claims of any salon, tanning beds typically exceed UV limits, making them wholly unsafe. The nature of tanning beds leads people into them again and again, and this routine exposure to UV rays means an adverse effect on your body.

What is the Risk?

Study after study has shown that any exposure to UV light is a risk factor for melanoma. The numbers get worse when you add tanning beds. If you use a tanning bed more than ten times a year, youre seven times more likely to develop malignant melanoma than others who dont go tanning. That risk balloons to 300% if you use tanning beds at the occasional level and 800% if you use it on a regular basis. FDA statistics suggest that nearly 40,000 people develop melanoma every year, and close to 8,000 of them die from the condition. UV radiation is a big part of that, which is why both the FDA and the CDC strongly suggest people stay away from tanning beds.

Perhaps the worst part of the equation is that women tend to start with the tanning process at a very young age. Studies have shown that girls start as early as the age of 13, and most use a tanning booth on at least a monthly basis. It is estimated that at least 2.5 million teens make use of tanning beds every single year, only increasing the rates of skin cancer.

If you are one of the millions looking to avoid melanoma and the dangers UV rays present to your skin, it is time to step out of the tanning bed. Even when you are simply headed out doors, for work or for fun, add sunscreen to the mix. It is the only way to truly protect your body from the dangers of skin cancer.