Tanning article – 2003

(Surveyor, Dec. 4, 2003) – Tanning

As another dark and dreary winter bears down on PEI, more Islanders are turning to tanning salons to keep their skin looking fresh.
But experts say the price might be higher than people think.
Although used by people from all walks of life, most tanners tend to be younger women like Janelle Cahill, who worked at a gym and used to tan for free.
“I first started tanning in Grade 10,” said Cahill. “My dad was tanning in preparation for a trip south and he paid for my first lesson. I liked how warm it was, and of course, the benefits of being darker. I felt prettier.”
Cahill, like most people who tan, would go for 20-minute sessions three times a week. Since she’s stopped working at the gym, she now only goes around once every two weeks. She is among a growing number of people who tan even during hte summer.
“If I was working that day, more than likely I didn’t get to the beach. It was easier to get into a tanning bed than go to the beach. More convenient for the same results,” said Cahill.
Most people begin tanning in preparation for an event, like a trip south or a party, said Atlantic Fitness Centre manager Stacey Lund.
In recent years, people with skin conditions such as excema or seasonal depression have been referred by their doctors for short sessions.
If they person hasn’t tanned before, they usually put them in for only a few minutes, to gain a ‘base tan’.
“Some people we only recommend using for five or 10 minutes,” said Lund. “Depending on skin type or what have you.”
However, photobiologist Pascale Reinhardt, who works with the Consumer and Clinical Radiation Protection Bureau, said Health Canada warns against using tanning beds, citing numerous health risks.
“Tanning is essentially damage under the skin,” said Reinhardt, “It enhances the speed of aging and wrinkles int he skin, and later in life goes towards developing skin cancer. The problem is it builds up, so it might take 20 years to get cancer.”
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in Canada, affecting 75,000 people each year. There are three types of skin cancer, the most serious being melanoma.
About 3,900 Canadians each year will be diagnosed with melanoma and about 850 people will die because of it.
“There’s no such thing as a healthy tan,” said Reinhardt.
Lund, who’s been working at the AFC for more than seven years, said regular tanning use is no more dangerous than laying in the sun. She says there are regulars who come in too much and staff members try to monitor them.
“Basically, when you do go into a tanning bed you are going in at your own risk, just like if you were going to lay in the sun,” said Lund.
“We do recommend that they use a tanning product or moisturizer if they are going to go, just for the aging process.”
People who tan shouldn’t go in every day. If you’re going to use it on a regular basis, go around three times a week, explains Lund.
“We do have people who abuse it and we don’t like that.”