Around 40 000 new cases of skin cancer are reported every year in Great Britain alone and some 2000 turn out to be fatal. The main cause is over exposure to the sun but the use of sunbeds would seem to contribute.
Having used sunbeds since the age of 15 to top up her tan, Justine Sheils has developed malignant melanoma (skin cancer) and had to suffer two operations to remove tumours. When interviewed by the BBC she said, “I get so angry when I hear young celebrities say having a tan makes you look sexy. It’s only when you get older you understand the risks.”
The fashion for a healthy tan started in the twentieth century when previously a pale skin was considered a mark of high social standing. In countries such as India this is still the case.
Interestingly there is no such thing as a healthy tan. An excess of ultra violet radiation (UVR) causes the skin to turn brown which is actually an indication of skin damage. Those who spend too long in the sun develop extreme photoaging or premature aging of the skin. This results in wrinkled, leathery and sagging skin. A suntan is simply the early stages of this. The damage is caused to the lower layer of skin, the dermis, which contains collagen and elastic fibres to give support and elasticity to the skin. With photoaging solar elastosis occurs, which involves the disorganization of the collagen fibrils and the accumulation of elastin material. Unfortunately the damage remains even after the tan fades.
Most forms of skin cancer are benign and not life threatening: these are basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer. However the risk of the serious malignant melanoma cancer is ever-present. According to Cancer Research UK the number of skin cancer cases has quadrupled between the 1970s and today.
The debate over sunbeds is difficult to divide from the effects of over exposure to the sun or, more specifically to UVR. The Sunbed Association has reacted to skin cancer figures by pointing to the regulations already in place for the use of sunbeds and the lack of evidence connecting sunbed use alone to skin cancer. Of course no one uses a sunbed in isolation: users tend to lie in the sun as well. It is generally felt however that sunbeds have at least contributed to cancer levels, especially given that some sunbeds can give out levels of UVR comparable to a midday Mediterranean sun.
Incidences of skin cancer increase with age but malignant melanoma is more common in younger people. The condition is now the most encountered cancer in those aged between fifteen and thirty four with young women twice as likely to suffer from it as young men. Not surprisingly the British Medical Association is looking for a ban on the use of sunbeds by those who are under eighteen years old. Similarly the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health is campaigning for the removal of all sunbeds from local authority premises.
It seems the fashion for a tan will not go away so is it possible to get a safe tan? In fact self-tanning lotions are more effective than they were previously and bronzers and tanning pills also give alternative methods to find that brown skin. It is often difficult to find the best brand among the many on the market so research is needed. Natural tanning products may well be the best choice however.
Too many people take risks to get a ‘healthy’ tan, sometimes with dire consequences. Common sense would dictate that safer alternatives to lying in the sun or using sunbeds should be explored.
