Most girls like a good healthy tan and can spend a lot of time in tanning booths or just soaking up sun at the beach. The girls look good on Instagram - dark and shining with lotion on their skin.
Is a tan worth it
To some it is a necessity. Body builders and beauty contestants all desire that bronzed skin. While some use a tanning liquid spray to get that color , others opt for that golden tan laying on the beach or on a tanning bed. We have heard that UV rays are bad for the skin and prematurely age it. But that is not until years later when it all catches up with you. Or is it?
Some people's skin is a lot worse than others, especially if you have very fair skin. I'm sure you have heard some girls say, I just can't tan. I don't tan, I burn! They seem to think tanning beds will work better and that they have better control than in the actual sun. But fair skin is much more susceptible to the UV light than darker skin that has more melatonin in it to help block the sun's rays.
When does this damage start?
It starts with your first tan and the bad marks keep adding up the more you do it. But most don't start to pay for it until they hit their early 40's at which time their skin has lost it's elasticity and the wrinkles start to appear. If they pinch their skin ti doesn't bounce back and the wrinkle stays for a time.
What else can happen?
I'm sure you have all heard about melanoma - or skin cancer. Here is one girl's story.
She needs a thorough skin cancer check every three months after four of the many atypical moles that cover her body turned out to be melanoma.
There’s no doubt in her mind indoor tanning is to blame.
“Of course I regret it… tanning beds are terrible,” Dudley, 45, who lives in Washington, D.C., told TODAY. But she worries the current generation isn’t getting the message — despite many warnings that exposure to ultraviolet rays is particularly dangerous for young people.
“I see tanning becoming the in, cool thing now. With the emphasis on social media and what they see out there, you see a lot of teenagers and 20-year-olds spending a lot of time getting tan — whether it’s in the sun, not being preventative about sunscreen, or if they’re on tanning beds.”
Using indoor tanning beds before age 35 can increase a person’s risk of melanoma by 59% and the risk increases with each use, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. UV light from the sun and tanning beds can both cause melanoma and increase the risk of a benign mole progressing to melanoma, it noted.
So if you are thinking about getting that cool tan, you should think twice, or at least use a very good tanning sun screen or you may look like a dried out prune when you hit 50.
Most Helpful Opinions