Is it safe to use a sun bed?
It's official - using a sun bed will increase your risk of getting skin cancer, according to the latest research.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has now said that sun beds and sun lamps are 'definitively carcinogenic' - in other words, they cause cancer.
It said this after discovering that the risk of melanoma - the most deadly form of skin cancer - goes up 75% in people who started using sunbeds regularly before the age of 30.
With 75,000 new cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year in the UK, people are always looking for a safe alternative and for many that's a sun bed.
We talked to Cancer Research to give you the facts about sun beds and tanning.
Sun bed tanning is safer than sun tanning
False! Sun beds are not a 'safe' alternative to sun tanning. Sun beds give out ultraviolet (UV) rays just like the sun. Exposure to UV rays, whether from the sun or a sun bed, damages the DNA in your skin cells. In fact, the strength of UV rays from sun beds can be up to 10-15 times higher than that of the midday sun.
Building up a sun bed tan gradually means I'm tanning safely
False! Unfortunately, using sunscreen or limiting your time on a sun bed will not protect your skin from damage and ageing. Actually short periods of intense, irregular exposure to UV, as happens on a sun bed, is the fastest way to damage your skin. Sun beds will age your skin.
Average rating:
Where to next?
Please leave a comment, tip or story in the box below
chris, 10 months
Hi.. over the years i have taken the advise from people like yourself, i had very few moles tanned in the sun and always was golden and tanned. Now i am pasty white and covered in moles.. I believe even tho there is a degreas in skin cancer, by staying out of the sun, or off sunbeds, i now read that all other cancers increase due to the lack of uv exposer. Is the Sun/sunbed not a natural source of vitamins? I have come to the realisation no one knows how we get these cancers, its all guess work. Smoking exemp of course. In New Zealand skin cancer is increasing every year but the Sunbed industry is nearlly dead.. think you have it wrong. Maybe its to increase the sale of sunscreans? never see the Cancer sociaty at the beach? Cheers
Report this commentcarol banks, about 1 year
Hi Bob, Why don't you read the article on sunbeds. It really explains a lot and should help with your coursework. Carol
Report this comment
Nicola Dall, 6 months
I have just had some skin cancer removed from my face just above my eye, and the cancer is believed to have been caused by sun bed use over a course of many years. No argument here.
Report this comment