The Many Dangers Of Tanning Beds
There are many hidden dangers of tanning beds and it is important for those users to be aware of the risks involved. Tanning salons is a $5 billion industry that continues to grow with western culture’s fascination with tanned skin.
In western culture dominated by pasty white complexions, it’s normal that we have evolved to desire and envy those capable of darker shades. But it is a dangerous fascination with the technology to harness ultraviolet rays and concentrate it into a pod which we proceed to immerse ourself. And as if that weren’t crazy enough to use drugs and lotions that make our skin more sensitive to light so we can speed up the process by which the UV rays damage our skins.
Tanning beds are like drugs and should, to a limited degree, be treated as such on a smaller scale. There are people who get addicted to tanning sessions, just as people become obsession with their looks. But there are no regulations to keep people from endangering themselves. Some salons have rules regarding the use of tanning beds but it is more serious than that.
The extended and regular use of tanning beds pose dangers that are on par with practices like smoking such as cancers and imbalance of natural bodily functions. Other problems resulting from tanning beds includes burns, suppression of immune system, damage to the cornea of your eyes, and drug induced photosensitivity.
The damamge to the skin begins with burns and dry, itchy skin. That is just the short term effect. Over the course of extended use, the skin ages prematurely and results in wrinkles and sagging not to mention the greatly increased risk of various forms of skin cancer.
Some people choose to speed up the tanning process by using drugs that make the skin more susceptible to ultraviolet rays. The drugs increase the skins sensitivity to the rays which results in more frequent burns.
We can only expect those who stand to profit from these products to push it on the consumer with all their marketing might. Unknowning consumers decide to buy into the marketing even though the ingredients in their dangerous quantities are not FDA approve, and strongly advised against by most health experts.
The bottom line is that every person interested in using a tanning bed to develop some darker tones on their body needs to be aware of the dangers so that they can make smart conscious choices in how they use tanning beds.
Much safer alternatives are tanning lotions and bronzers that don’t affect the body beyond the dead skin cells. These products are recommended by many health associations for the relative safety they offer compared to dangerous practices such as tanning beds or even sun tanning.