Tanning Beds Worse Than Sunshine, Skin Cancer Study

Melanoma is today the second most common cancer in women aged 20 to 30 years old, with an eight-fold increase for women, and four-fold for young men, according to thetimesofindia.

So what is wrong? Is it the sun's doing?

Yes, but not entirely. Rogerio Neves, deputy director of the Penn State Hershey Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center, explained that it's not just the sun to blame. Childhood sunburns and ultraviolet (UV) exposure outside and even inside the house, if you are in an indoors tanning bed, could lead to it.

You will find many tanners in gyms and fitness centers, some of them even freebies for members. Soon it could become addictive.

The culprits are the lamps used in tanning beds, which emit over 95 percent UVA and much less UVB rays. While the UVB rays from natural sunshine turns you red and tarred, making you seek the shade, they are present in few quantities in the tanning bed, Neves says. Hence, people can just stand there "frying and not feeling any bad sensations".

UVA rays can harm your skin much more than UVB, as it gets deeper into the skin and leads to dangerous mutations. A healthy tan does not exist, so even those with a darker skin due to their ethnic background need to stick to sunscreen, avoiding the sun's rays as much as possible.

Moreover, artificial tanning leads to more problems such as cataracts, reactions with medications and early aging of the skin, leading you to look older than you are.