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As students plan to travel this spring break, many will begin to tan in order to rid themselves of their pasty, white winter color.

Sun, tanning beds can lead to skin cancer later in life

By: Elizabeth Gillette

Posted: 2/7/08

By
Contributing Writer
Kelly Lynn, a 29-year-old Frisco hairstylist, said she spent her childhood outdoors. She was diagnosed with melanoma at the age of 19.
As spring break approaches and college students contemplate their migration south of the border for spring break, many are revving up the tanning beds in hopes of achieving the perfect tan.
"Since I'm going to Mexico over break, all I can think about is getting off the plane and being the palest girl on the beach," Ponder junior Megan Kelley said. "I am aware of the risks of tanning excessively, but it'll all be worth it if I can look my best on the beach."
Tanners' skin may have that "healthy glow," but new research in the International Journal of Cancer concluded excessive exposure to the sun's UV rays and use of tanning beds leads to premature skin aging and puts tanners at risk for melanoma, the most serious and deadly, form of skin cancer.
Formerly a rare condition, melanoma has become the fifth most common cancer in the United States and has a high mortality rate when left untreated. According to the journal, many doctors attribute this jump in cases to people's obsession with the perfect tan.
"Through high school, I'd spend my summers laying out with my girlfriends every day and I frequented the tanning beds for years," Lynn said. "The sad thing was, the only reason I made an appointment with my dermatologist was because I saw a really ugly mole on my stomach and I was terrified that someone would see it. I never gave a thought that it could be cancer."
Lynn said she postponed scheduling an appointment with a dermatologist for three months because she had no insurance but was diagnosed with melanoma and promptly had the mole removed.
Melanoma is a tumor of melanocytes, which are the pigment-producing cells of the body and can be identified by a new growth or changes in an existing mole.
These growths often have a black or blue area, and the borders are irregular and asymmetric. Often these growths grow in diameter in a short time.
According to the journal, fair-skinned people are more prone to melanomas than those with darker complexions, and people who have had blistering sunburns during childhood or adolescence have an increased probability of developing melanoma in later years.
"Melanoma is the most dangerous skin cancer in the world today," said Dr. Louis Munoz, director of radiation oncology at Medical City Hospital in Dallas. "Incidences are increasing particularly in light-skinned patients as they migrate to southern climates."
Tanning salons have been updating the bulbs used in beds, and debates between physicians and salon owners regarding the safety of the new bulbs have been raging for years.
The journal reported in March 2007 that people who use tanning beds regularly have a 75 percent increased risk of melanoma.
"Tanning beds are purported to be less damaging than the sun's radiation, but there is no evidence that they are less likely to prevent premature aging and the development of solar-induced skin cancers," Munoz said. "Whether you're out by the beach or lying in a tanning bed, there is absolutely no safe tan."
Although melanoma typically occurs in people between 40 and 60 years old, the desire to achieve that perfect tan is increasing the number of melanoma cases in younger men and women.
Lynn said she thought the cancer was a closed chapter in her life after the surgery.
"My doctor told me I could die from this, but I was 19 and didn't understand that," Lynn said. "It wasn't until they removed the melanoma and told me that chances were somewhat likely it could come back in my 40s or 50s and there might be nothing they could do that I thought I could actually die."
Melanomas that are not diagnosed early are treated more radically with surgery combined with immune therapy, chemotherapy and radiation.
"Once melanoma has spread to lymph nodes or distant sites, it is very difficult to control, even with radical treatment," Munoz said.
More than 10 years later, Lynn is cancer-free but goes to the doctor regularly for routine examinations.
"I'm at the doctor once a year, and it's scary to think that the chance of it coming back again, only worse, is pretty likely," Lynn said. "But all I can do is wear sunscreen at all times, stay out of the sun and teach my children to do the same."
She said both of her children have dark complexions and spend a lot of time outdoors, but they aren't allowed out of the house without SPF 45 sunscreen.
"It sounds rather harsh, but preventing skin cancer is the best lesson I can teach my children," Lynn said.
If students are headed south for spring break, Dr. Munoz said, they should stay off the beach during peak mid-day sun, slather on sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher and stay away from tanning beds.
"This is the only body you have. Love it and take care of it," Lynn said. "Sacrificing your skin, and ultimately your life, for cosmetic purposes just isn't worth it."