No form of tanning is safe, skin experts warn

There is no such thing as safe tanning. That includes direct sunlight as well as a tanning bed.

"A lot of the young people do it because they want to look cute, but the effects that it has on them is actually just the opposite," said Dr. C. David Hansen, the acting chairman of dermatology at LDS Hospital and an associate professor in the University of Utah School of Medicine. "It causes wrinkles, sun-age spots, sagging because tanning kills the elastic tissue and (causes) skin cancer. So by the time you're 40 you look like you were beaten to death."

Hansen and Dr. Karen Stolman, a dermatologist at Alta View Hospital and the Sandy IHC Health Clinic, participated in Saturday's Deseret Morning News/Intermountain Health Care Health Hotline, during which they discussed and took calls on dermatology and skin cancer.

One caller asked why there hasn't been a ban on tanning machines. Stolman said that although the machinery is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the state and local government leaders control the usage.

"I recommend that they write to their local and state legislators and ask for regulations. They can do things like control what age a person can use tanning booths and other things if they want," she said.

"Most of the sun damage to a person is done before the age of 18, but that doesn't mean you can't get damage after that," Stolman said.

Tanning booths have twice the intensity as the sun, Hansen said, and although the UVA rays emitted by tanners are less likely to burn, they are not safer than UVB rays that the sun also gives off.

"UVA rays cause more collagen damage, and unlike UVB rays it reaches deep into the skin instead of just outside burning. It is thought to be more efficient in causing melanoma although that is debatable by some," Hansen said.

"The disadvantage we have is that Utah is populated with Northern European ancestry and we have lots of sunny days," Hansen said.

Pre-cancer patients make up the average of Stolman's patients, who have had a lot of sun exposure with symptoms like red and scaly spots.

The majority of callers to the hotline described moles and past skin cancers that were changing or scabbing. They were recommended to go and check with their dermatologist.

"It's hard to say whether something is cancerous. I recommend that after 18 (years old) every few years go in for a full skin exam and if you or your family has a history of skin cancer to go at least once a year," Stolman said.

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E-mail: sbaghbani@desnews.com