About Home Tanning Beds

Due to the link between sunburns and melanoma development, some proponents of the indoor tanning industry have implied or suggested that if people obtain a tan, they will not sunburn, and therefore, would reduce their risk of melanoma. This is a totally false concept.

For one thing, it is not medically proven that the “sunburns-only” hypothesis of melanoma development is true. Also a person may still sunburn even if he or she acquires a tan from an indoor tanning parlor. There is no validity to the theory that indoor tanning will reduce your risk of sunburn. In addition, it has been proven that fair-skinned people are at the highest risk for melanoma and those people tan poorly, if at all. Fair-skinned people can burn whether they are at the beach or at the tanning parlor. The debate between burn versus tan does not even apply to this high risk group of people.

Research has proven that ultraviolet light may cause all three types of skin cancer. However, it is not definitely established whether burning or tanning is more carcinogenic is cases of melanoma and basal cell carcinoma.

If, in fact, burns are more carcinogenic than tanning (although we know this isn’t true for squamous cell carcinoma), it still would not be reasonable to promote tanning in order to avoid carcinogenic sunburns. People have often been burned at indoor tanning parlors, sometimes severely. Indoor tanning certainly does not provide adequate, if any, protection against burns from the sun. And, of course, you need to remember that the process of tanning itself injures the skin, even if it does not result in a sunburn.

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