One in 3 White, Teen Girls Have Used Tanning Booths

Bloomberg no url | 9/8/3

[NativeNewYorker]

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- More than one-third of white, teenaged girls in the U.S. have used a tanning booth, which may age the skin and raise the risk of cancer, and about 30 percent have used the devices at least three times, according to a study.

Repeated use increased with age, rising to 47 percent among 18- and 19-year old girls from 11 percent among 13- and 14-yearolds, said study leader Catherine Demko, a cancer epidemiologist at Case Western University School of Medicine in Cleveland.

Researchers once thought the dominant form of ultraviolet rays in sunlight, called UV-B, posed more risk of skin cancer than another type of light called UV-A. Recent research suggests that UV-A radiation, which composes a large portion of the light in tanning beds, may risk raise the risk of skin aging and cancer nearly as much as UV-B, Demko said in an interview.

``Girls are exposing themselves to UV-A and UV-B radiation through indoor and outdoor tanning,'' she said. ``They could be setting themselves up for greater risk.''

More than 1 million skin cancer cases are diagnosed each year, and more than 50,000 of those are the most serious form, malignant melanoma, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Melanoma cases have increased 7 percent annually since 1981, and it is the most common form of cancer in people 25 to 29 years old, the agency's Web site said.

Use of tanning beds among teen-age boys was much lower, with less than 7 percent using them three times or more, the study said. Parents should help teen-aged children find other ways to alter appearances besides tanning booths, Demko said.

The study, which appears in the September Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, looked at 6,900 white adolescents in 1996 and was funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

[bedolido]

I won't beleive it till I see the photo's

There's more photos... but this was the best

[TheBigB]

Heck, it was only about ten years ago that my Doc prescribed (jokingly) a couple of "beach visits" for my acne.

I'm sick of hearing about how everything is bad for you--sunlight, air, water, etc. etc. etc. If some of these scientists have their way, we'll all be living deep underground eating beeswax and grain.

[grania]

I had bad acne in high school, and--if you can believe it--back in the 60s, my dermatologist stuck me in a room with these UV lights twice a week for nearly a year, for about 15 minutes at a time.

I remember that. I had a sudden outbreak soon after going to college, and had to do the UV light thing till it went away. The dermatoligist used to pick at it....yuck....thankfully it cleared on its own in a few months.

It was not fun spending more that half of first semester Freshman year of college looking like a prime candidate for a leper colony! <^..^>

[CanadianLibertarian]

hehehe............"white meat".....

must disagree. If the tanning is done right there is no white or dark meat, just an all-over golden brown. Now that's what I call tasty cokkin'.

[Caipirabob]

Huh? What's an Oompa Loompa?

They're a small Democratic constituency in "Oompa-Loompa-Land" somewhere just outside of Trenton I think.

[varon]

More than one-third of white, teenaged girls in the U.S. have used a tanning booth........

Seems rather low compared to what appears to be 100% usage by white women Real Estate Agents ;-)

[Hildy]

LOL...I don't know how I missed that little piece of cultural history!

[Paulus Invictus]

They can later compete for the Melanoma Queen crown. Another proof that one third of US females are brain-dead. In this case, brain dead can lead to body dead before their time. My dematologist loves tanning booths. He is getting richer by the week.

[Clemenza]

Swarthy Envy?

NO time in a tanning booth can ever equal the beauty of a subcontinental princess. ;-)

[Clemenza]

If you want to see what spending too much time in a tanning booth/beach can do, check out Sylvia and Sheila down in Boca Raton. All pruned-out by age 40.

[jonno]

LOL!

[ChemistCat]

My dad has had three kinds of melanomas. So far. :-( He was forced to lie in the sun for hours because his mother thought it would prevent polio.

I take this seriously with my kids. Unfortunately, when I put on sunscreen now I just think of closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. I'm sure I'm already doomed; childhood sun exposure is supposed to be the most damaging.

[ladylib]

I told a girl at work years ago that tanning booths might not be the best thing for her (melanoma, prematurely aging skin). She laughed at me and said the guy who ran the tanning booth said nothing would happen to her and it was completely safe.

I said, But dermatologists warn people about sun tanning. She said a tanning booth was different. I said, How so? She couldn't say, but she reiterated that a tanning booth was different. The guy who owned it told her so. I guess if you plunk good money down, it's safe and even beneficial. Sitting in the sun costs nothing, but it is probably more damaging?

The moral: Always believe what a businessman tells you about his product, even if you have to suspend disbelief.

[luckystarmom]

My brother has severe skin cancer, and he's only 46. Last time around, he lost an ear. This time, it's back behind his eye, and it is inoperable.

[ladylib]

I've heard of people having malignant tumors behind the eye.

Is it malignant melanoma? My father developed a tumor on his pituitary gland. He developed diabetes melletus(sp) and Addison's disease and no one could figure out why. Then he had a chest x-ray and it showed lesions on his lung. He had a biopsy and they diagnosed malignant melanoma. It didn't appear on his skin (although he had a lot of moles on his body) until later on. After they diagnosed it, they gave him three months, but he lived for six.

This was in 1979 and when they finally figured out what it was, it was pretty much over.

[luckystarmom]

I think it is squamus cell carcinoma or a basal cell carcinoma. It's not a melanoma, but it's very deadly. For 20 years he's battled it mainly on his head. He's had 3 major surgeries, with the last one just stopping at the sheath around his brain.

The doctors are going to try some sort of radiation on my brother. I haven't had the nerve to ask him what his chances are. We just found out that it was back last week.

He's a redhead, and spent lots of time in the sun. My kids have never been sunburned, and I hope it stays that way. My son complains about being the whitest kid in school. I tell him to keep it that way.

[ladylib]

Good luck to your brother. My father was blond and blue eyed and I never knew him to have a sunburn as an adult. He must have had a couple of bad burns when he was a kid. That's all it takes apparently.

I had a couple of really bad burns when I was a kid. They used to smear Noxema on us and it burned like anything. As far as I'm concerned, it's a totally useless product.

Let your son complain all he wants about being the whitest kid in school. He's better off out of the sun.

[cyborg]

Just thanks Jennifer Lopez for this unhealthy obsession...LOL And all the other trendoid Hollyweird people for wanting to look like they just returned from Capri.

I am going to be posting a pic of my tricolored feet... white ankles black arches and brown toes. That's what I get for wearing sandals and not putting sunblock on my feet. Seriously, I've always had a light olive skintone that turns very dark in summer. Now I wear sunblock because I do not want to look like a hag, and my father had a lot of moles.

[cyborg]

Just thanks Jennifer Lopez for this unhealthy obsession...LOL And all the other trendoid Hollyweird people for wanting to look like they just returned from Capri.

I am going to be posting a pic of my tricolored feet... white ankles black arches and brown toes. That's what I get for wearing sandals and not putting sunblock on my feet. Seriously, I've always had a light olive skintone that turns very dark in summer. Now I wear sunblock because I do not want to look like a hag, and my father had a lot of moles.

[cyborg]

okay the pictures of my three toned feet were not that important! sorry for the dupe